This is a very strange notion: that before the widespread use of artificial light at night (think light bulb), people normally went to sleep shortly after sundown, woke up in the middle of the night, stayed awake for an hour or two, then went back to sleep again until the sun came up. With the advent of artificial light, we started staying up until much later, and then sleeping just once, all the way through the night. Then you have to wonder what effect this modern single sleep is having on us.
My readers who know me well will know that I normally go to sleep shortly after sundown; I've been doing this for a long time. Something I've noticed the past few years is that I often wake up around midnight or one in the morning, and I get up typically around 3 or 4 am. Now I'm wondering if I should get up and do something for an hour or two, then go back to bed. I think I may try this a time or two, and see how it feels...
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Friday, April 12, 2013
Quote of the Day...
Rachel Lucas, on the Kermit Gosnell horrorshow and the lamestream media's non-coverage of it:
What good is free speech if the only thing you'll talk about is the Progressively-correct narrative?
They have no agenda and they are nonpartisan. That’s why they’ll spend several news cycles talking about Ann Romney’s horses but not a single front-page article on the murder trials concerning a grotesque fetus-abattoir in Pennsylvania.Read her whole rant.
What good is free speech if the only thing you'll talk about is the Progressively-correct narrative?
Programmer Jokes...
From StackOverflow. Some of these are wonderful! Some you really need to be a programmer to understand...
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Reality Bites, Doesn't It, Al?
This one (via my mom) had Debbie and I laughing this morning...
When you've lost Bono, Al, you've pretty much lost them all...
Friends in England told me that this past winter – one of the coldest and snowiest there in many years – Al Gore was in London giving a speech right when the peak snowfall struck. The famous dry English wit was then in full display – the “Gore Effect” (wherein if one wants cold weather, one simply books a speech by The Al) took England by storm...
When you've lost Bono, Al, you've pretty much lost them all...
Friends in England told me that this past winter – one of the coldest and snowiest there in many years – Al Gore was in London giving a speech right when the peak snowfall struck. The famous dry English wit was then in full display – the “Gore Effect” (wherein if one wants cold weather, one simply books a speech by The Al) took England by storm...
Animal Funnies...
Via my mom. In a household with four dogs and eight cats, you can bet that lots of these resonated with us!
On Aging...
Via my lovely bride, whose friend (?) sent these to her:
Just before the funeral services, the undertaker came up to the very elderly widow and asked, 'How old was your husband?'
'98,' she replied. 'Two years older than me.'
'So you're 96,' the undertaker commented.
She responded, 'Hardly worth going home, is it?
Reporters interviewing a 104-year-old woman: 'And what do you think is the best thing about being 104?' the reporter asked. She simply replied, 'No peer pressure.'
The nice thing about being senile is you can hide your own Easter eggs and have fun finding them.
I've sure gotten old! I've had two bypass surgeries, a hip replacement, new knees, fought prostate cancer and diabetes. I'm half blind, can't hear anything quieter than a jet engine, take 40 different medications that make me dizzy, winded, and subject to blackouts. Have bouts with dementia. Have poor circulation; hardly feel my hands and feet anymore. Can't remember if I'm 85 or 92. Have lost all my friends. But, thank God, I still have my driver's license.
I feel like my body has gotten totally out of shape, so I got my doctor's permission to join a fitness club and start exercising. I decided to take an aerobics class for seniors. I bent, twisted, gyrated, jumped up and down, and perspired for an hour But, by the time I got my leotards on, the class was over.
An elderly woman decided to prepare her will and told her preacher she had two final requests. First, she wanted to be cremated, and second, she wanted her ashes scattered over Wal-Mart.
'Wal-Mart?' the preacher exclaimed. 'Why Wal-Mart?'
'Then I'll be sure my daughters visit me twice a week'
My memory's not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be.
Know how to prevent sagging? Just eat till the wrinkles fill out.
It's scary when you start making the same noises as your coffee maker.
These days about half the stuff in my shopping cart says, 'For fast relief.'
THE SENILITY PRAYER: Grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference.
Oh, Jeez, Don't Do This to Me!
This would seriously scare me, maybe to the heart-attack-is-imminent level:
But it's kind of fun watching it happen to someone else!
But it's kind of fun watching it happen to someone else!
Mantis Shrimp...
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Bedbugs and Bean Leaves...
A long-established home remedy for bedbugs is to spread bean leaves around. The bedbugs collect on the bean leaves and get stuck. Then you just throw the bean leaves away, or burn them.
Scientists have known about this home remedy for a long time. Unlike many such remedies, this one actually works, and is well-documented. Annoyingly, scientists couldn't figure out why it worked, and therefore could not devise an technology to make use of the same technique – any time of year, any where they had bedbugs.
Now they've figured out why, and the story is fascinating. See here and here for details and photos. Bean leaves are using the same technique that pikemen used to attack armored knights: aim for the greaves!
Scientists have known about this home remedy for a long time. Unlike many such remedies, this one actually works, and is well-documented. Annoyingly, scientists couldn't figure out why it worked, and therefore could not devise an technology to make use of the same technique – any time of year, any where they had bedbugs.
Now they've figured out why, and the story is fascinating. See here and here for details and photos. Bean leaves are using the same technique that pikemen used to attack armored knights: aim for the greaves!
Looks Like We've Passed the Sunspot Peak...
It looks like we've passed the sunspot number peak for this cycle, and it was a lot lower than even the revised NOAA forecast:
Fewer sunspots means lower solar irradiance, something that (according to observational history, but not climate models) is closely correlated with colder climate. We've had a colder-than-usual winter. It will be interesting to see what our weather is like for the next 5 or 6 years, as this cycle progresses...
Fewer sunspots means lower solar irradiance, something that (according to observational history, but not climate models) is closely correlated with colder climate. We've had a colder-than-usual winter. It will be interesting to see what our weather is like for the next 5 or 6 years, as this cycle progresses...
California: Trying to Set a Record for Speed of Decline...
That thing we call “health insurance” doesn't much resemble actual insurance any more. The piling on of state mandates makes the problem even worse. California is considering yet another new mandate: coverage for treatment of infertility, including things like artificial insemination, surrogate mothers, etc.
That doesn't sound all that surprising; just another way to redistribute some wealth (we'll all end up paying for those couples who need infertility treatments). But there's a twist to the California law: its definition of infertility is very carefully written: it says that any couple who has active sex for a year without producing a pregnancy is by definition infertile. Any couple. Including homosexual couples.
So the effect of this new mandate (if passed) would be to allow any gay or lesbian couple who wanted a kid to have the entire tab for “infertility treatments” be picked up by the rest of us.
Every time I think that our California legislators have found every possible way to demonstrate their craziness, they prove me wrong. They've done it again.
We gotta get outta here...
That doesn't sound all that surprising; just another way to redistribute some wealth (we'll all end up paying for those couples who need infertility treatments). But there's a twist to the California law: its definition of infertility is very carefully written: it says that any couple who has active sex for a year without producing a pregnancy is by definition infertile. Any couple. Including homosexual couples.
So the effect of this new mandate (if passed) would be to allow any gay or lesbian couple who wanted a kid to have the entire tab for “infertility treatments” be picked up by the rest of us.
Every time I think that our California legislators have found every possible way to demonstrate their craziness, they prove me wrong. They've done it again.
We gotta get outta here...
Progressive Narrative Oopsie!
The current progressive-driven efforts for gun control are predicated on the assumption that restricting high-capacity magazines would reduce violent crime. Gun owners in general find that notion risible. Progressives find that notion compelling. Who would really know?
Well, how about the police who are on the ground fighting violent crime? Seems like they'd know more than your average progressive or gun nut. What do they think? Oops:
I'm sure the progressives will have their 47 reasons why police are unreliable information sources for this issue. The percentage is telling, though. Damned few police think this is a good idea.
Much more, and the internals, here...
Well, how about the police who are on the ground fighting violent crime? Seems like they'd know more than your average progressive or gun nut. What do they think? Oops:
I'm sure the progressives will have their 47 reasons why police are unreliable information sources for this issue. The percentage is telling, though. Damned few police think this is a good idea.
Much more, and the internals, here...
Quote of the Day...
From the one and only James Delingpole:
Should Michael Mann be given the electric chair for having concocted arguably the most risibly inept, misleading, cherry-picking, worthless and mendacious graph – the Hockey Stick – in the history of junk science?
Should George Monbiot be hanged by the neck for his decade or so's hysterical promulgation of the great climate change scam and other idiocies too numerous to mention?
Should Tim Flannery be fed to the crocodiles for the role he has played in the fleecing of the Australian taxpayer and the diversion of scarce resources into pointless projects like all the eyewateringly expensive desalination plants built as a result of his doomy prognostications about water shortages caused by catastrophic anthropogenic global warming?
It ought to go without saying that my answer to all these questions is – *regretful sigh* – no. First, as anyone remotely familiar with the zillion words I write every year on this blog and elsewhere, extreme authoritarianism and capital penalties just aren't my bag. Second, and perhaps more importantly, it would be counterproductive, ugly, excessive and deeply unsatisfying.
20 Photos that Change the Holocaust Narrative...
A collection of 20 powerful images related to the Holocaust, including the one below depicting Holocaust survivors at the very moment they realize they're being liberated.
Every time I try to imagine myself in the place of the Jews in Nazi Germany, my imagination fails. It fails again here; I dissolve into tears just trying...
More here...
Every time I try to imagine myself in the place of the Jews in Nazi Germany, my imagination fails. It fails again here; I dissolve into tears just trying...
More here...
FJ Mods: Projects Always Expand...
There's a pattern in the FJ modification projects I'm undertaking – they always seem to expand into bigger, more complicated projects than I initially expected them to be.
A current project provides a great example. I'm installing a CB radio. How hard could that be? It's a small box with two wires coming out the back (power and antenna). Easy, right?
Well.
Where do I mount the thing? In the cramped interior of an FJ, there's really only one place that we liked: on the ceiling, in the middle of the car (between the driver and passenger). That way we can both use it, and it's out of the way of both us and the airbags.
That means I have to take the headliner out (the “headliner” is the fuzzy-coated plastic piece over your head when you're sitting in an FJ). It was not obvious how to do that, so I bought temporary access to the online shop manual to find out. The good news: one can remove the headliner with just the tools I already owned (one slightly special tool is involved: one that makes it easy to pop off the special fasteners used on many interior parts). The bad new: removing the headliner requires first removing most of the interior of the FJ – something like 50 plastic and metal parts. That took an entire day.
The antenna is mounted on the rear door hinge. That means the antenna wire has to be routed through the rear door – and that means the rear door has to be disassembled. Compared to the headliner, that's easy – but still, that took another hour.
Then I discovered that there's a 1.5" gap between the headliner and the actual metal roof. I could fill that gap easily with a piece of 2x4, but how do I fasten the 2x4 to the roof? Some research gave me the answer: install powerful magnets in the top of the 2x4 piece, and use glue. The magnets act like a clamp to hold the piece to the roof, so I don't need to make any holes in the roof.
It took me nearly a day to route the antenna wire just 12 feet. First I had to get it through the door, which is accessible only through an awkward hole. Then I had to route the cable through a pre-existing rubber “boot” that holds all the other wires going to the door. Naturally, that boot is almost full of wires, so snaking the antenna wire through there was a challenge. Then I had to route it around all the bits of framework and around the side “curtain” airbag mechanisms, attach it to the roof, and get it over to where the CB radio would be mounted. All of this work was overhead – not my favorite :)
Then I needed power to the CB. The radio came with a 6' long power cable, with an inline fuse holder just 8" from the radio. A fuse holder under the headliner seemed like a really bad idea – I'd have to disassemble the FJ just to check the fuse! Plus the 6' cable wasn't nearly long enough – it's 10' just to get under the dashboard.
Where do I get power from under the dash? More research in the online shop manual convinced me that I really didn't want to even try that; it was better to be in the engine compartment, so I'd have a place to mount a “real” fuse holder. That means 14' of cable. The original power cable is 28 gauge copper, just barely big enough to give an acceptable voltage drop at 6'; too small for 14'. So I upped it to 14 gauge (overkill, but cheap), spliced it right next to the connector that led into the radio, and routed the cable into the engine compartment.
Now I needed power. That's easy, right? Battery is right there! But wait...I don't want the CB to work when the car is turned off; leaving it on accidentally might drain the battery. I want power that's on only when the ignition is turned on. But that doesn't exist within the engine compartment, at least, not in any obvious way. Back to the shop manual. It turns out that there are two places I can find power that's switched by the ignition: one for the ignition coils, and one for the fuel injectors. However...both of them are fused for just their intended purpose, not for my CB. So I need a relay that turns on and off with the ignition coils, and a circuit that senses the ignition coil power without drawing any significant current from it. That's something I might want for other purposes as well, so I fused the relay input for 30 amps, and I put a secondary 3 amp fuse in for the CB. The engine compartment is starting to get a lot of wires :)
And that's all just for the CB! I have a bunch of electrical projects to do: CB, roof-mounted headlights, dual battery system, 2KW inverter, and the on-board air compressor. I'm quite likely to have other things down the road as well. So all the under-the-hood stuff I built to be easily modified and extended – but of course that adds even more work.
Projects are ever-expanding...
A current project provides a great example. I'm installing a CB radio. How hard could that be? It's a small box with two wires coming out the back (power and antenna). Easy, right?
Well.
Where do I mount the thing? In the cramped interior of an FJ, there's really only one place that we liked: on the ceiling, in the middle of the car (between the driver and passenger). That way we can both use it, and it's out of the way of both us and the airbags.
That means I have to take the headliner out (the “headliner” is the fuzzy-coated plastic piece over your head when you're sitting in an FJ). It was not obvious how to do that, so I bought temporary access to the online shop manual to find out. The good news: one can remove the headliner with just the tools I already owned (one slightly special tool is involved: one that makes it easy to pop off the special fasteners used on many interior parts). The bad new: removing the headliner requires first removing most of the interior of the FJ – something like 50 plastic and metal parts. That took an entire day.
The antenna is mounted on the rear door hinge. That means the antenna wire has to be routed through the rear door – and that means the rear door has to be disassembled. Compared to the headliner, that's easy – but still, that took another hour.
Then I discovered that there's a 1.5" gap between the headliner and the actual metal roof. I could fill that gap easily with a piece of 2x4, but how do I fasten the 2x4 to the roof? Some research gave me the answer: install powerful magnets in the top of the 2x4 piece, and use glue. The magnets act like a clamp to hold the piece to the roof, so I don't need to make any holes in the roof.
It took me nearly a day to route the antenna wire just 12 feet. First I had to get it through the door, which is accessible only through an awkward hole. Then I had to route the cable through a pre-existing rubber “boot” that holds all the other wires going to the door. Naturally, that boot is almost full of wires, so snaking the antenna wire through there was a challenge. Then I had to route it around all the bits of framework and around the side “curtain” airbag mechanisms, attach it to the roof, and get it over to where the CB radio would be mounted. All of this work was overhead – not my favorite :)
Then I needed power to the CB. The radio came with a 6' long power cable, with an inline fuse holder just 8" from the radio. A fuse holder under the headliner seemed like a really bad idea – I'd have to disassemble the FJ just to check the fuse! Plus the 6' cable wasn't nearly long enough – it's 10' just to get under the dashboard.
Where do I get power from under the dash? More research in the online shop manual convinced me that I really didn't want to even try that; it was better to be in the engine compartment, so I'd have a place to mount a “real” fuse holder. That means 14' of cable. The original power cable is 28 gauge copper, just barely big enough to give an acceptable voltage drop at 6'; too small for 14'. So I upped it to 14 gauge (overkill, but cheap), spliced it right next to the connector that led into the radio, and routed the cable into the engine compartment.
Now I needed power. That's easy, right? Battery is right there! But wait...I don't want the CB to work when the car is turned off; leaving it on accidentally might drain the battery. I want power that's on only when the ignition is turned on. But that doesn't exist within the engine compartment, at least, not in any obvious way. Back to the shop manual. It turns out that there are two places I can find power that's switched by the ignition: one for the ignition coils, and one for the fuel injectors. However...both of them are fused for just their intended purpose, not for my CB. So I need a relay that turns on and off with the ignition coils, and a circuit that senses the ignition coil power without drawing any significant current from it. That's something I might want for other purposes as well, so I fused the relay input for 30 amps, and I put a secondary 3 amp fuse in for the CB. The engine compartment is starting to get a lot of wires :)
And that's all just for the CB! I have a bunch of electrical projects to do: CB, roof-mounted headlights, dual battery system, 2KW inverter, and the on-board air compressor. I'm quite likely to have other things down the road as well. So all the under-the-hood stuff I built to be easily modified and extended – but of course that adds even more work.
Projects are ever-expanding...
More on Margaret Thatcher...
A couple items:
Althouse on Rush Limbaugh, who called Margaret Thatcher “One of the greatest Americans quote, unquote I've ever met”.
Margaret Thatcher's 19 most badass moments, including this one (watch it to the very end, it's short):
Oh, how I long for American politicians at the national level with such fervently held beliefs!
Althouse on Rush Limbaugh, who called Margaret Thatcher “One of the greatest Americans quote, unquote I've ever met”.
Margaret Thatcher's 19 most badass moments, including this one (watch it to the very end, it's short):
Oh, how I long for American politicians at the national level with such fervently held beliefs!
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Such a Struggle!
The U.K.'s The Telegraph has been an uber-reliable warmist doom-monger. If you want an article describing the nasty way that the human species will die (or kill everything else) because of our SUVs, The Telegraph is one of the first places you would look.
Recently the news from the weather and climate science folks, the ones who actually observe (instead of simply creating computer models), has not been supportive of the global warming hypothesis. More specifically, the observed data isn't matching the computer model predictions. This is a little awkward for folks like The Telegraph, and they're struggling to cope...
My prediction is that they will find a new topic on which they can hang their sensational doom-and-gloom forecasts. I respectfully suggest the U.S. economic and political future as a likely alternative candidate...
Recently the news from the weather and climate science folks, the ones who actually observe (instead of simply creating computer models), has not been supportive of the global warming hypothesis. More specifically, the observed data isn't matching the computer model predictions. This is a little awkward for folks like The Telegraph, and they're struggling to cope...
My prediction is that they will find a new topic on which they can hang their sensational doom-and-gloom forecasts. I respectfully suggest the U.S. economic and political future as a likely alternative candidate...
The Sensible Ms. McArdle Says...
...she's going to cut back on red meat. I can't poke any holes in her logic...
More Charts of Impending Doom...
Jeez, these are depressing...
First up, chart that seems like a reasonable proxy for an non-manipulated (by the government) measure of the overall economy's rate: overall gasoline sales. This isn't a perfect proxy, to be sure. For instance, we know that the overall efficiency of U.S. cars and trucks is improving. On the other hand, that improvement is partially or entirely offset by our growth in population. However, prior to the current recession, gasoline sales have grown steadily and in at least rough proportion to the overall economic rate – so despite the known sources of error, it seems like a good proxy. Plus, it has one extremely important attribute: this is reported as raw data, not “adjusted” by some bureaucrat to suit the current political need. Behold:
Current retail gasoline sales are running at around half what they were in 2007. It's hard to imagine any way that's a good indicator. More here.
Here's a completely different measure, a breakdown of something I posted just a few days ago: labor force participation rates, broken down by age groups.
The only age group where the participation rate is growing is for people aged 55 and older! For all other age groups, the participation rate is falling. That doesn't look like a healthy recovery to me! More here.
First up, chart that seems like a reasonable proxy for an non-manipulated (by the government) measure of the overall economy's rate: overall gasoline sales. This isn't a perfect proxy, to be sure. For instance, we know that the overall efficiency of U.S. cars and trucks is improving. On the other hand, that improvement is partially or entirely offset by our growth in population. However, prior to the current recession, gasoline sales have grown steadily and in at least rough proportion to the overall economic rate – so despite the known sources of error, it seems like a good proxy. Plus, it has one extremely important attribute: this is reported as raw data, not “adjusted” by some bureaucrat to suit the current political need. Behold:
Current retail gasoline sales are running at around half what they were in 2007. It's hard to imagine any way that's a good indicator. More here.
Here's a completely different measure, a breakdown of something I posted just a few days ago: labor force participation rates, broken down by age groups.
The only age group where the participation rate is growing is for people aged 55 and older! For all other age groups, the participation rate is falling. That doesn't look like a healthy recovery to me! More here.
Goodbye to the Iron Lady...
My readers will know that Margaret Thatcher has long been one of my heroes. She's been out of the public eye, ill and suffering from dementia, for many years now. Her death yesterday feels like just one last step in a long process, but still very sad.
If you don't know much about Mrs. Thatcher, I recommend Claire Berlinski's excellent book There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters.
Here's a small collection of links to the varied thoughts of some political and economic observers upon her death:
Mark Steyn (an ex-Brit)
James Delingpole (a disgusted Brit)
Paul Johnson
Megan McArdle
My favorite two quotes from yesterday:
With her passing, there are no more men in England.
-- Sanford Begley
The Brits haven't had a PM fit to carry her purse since.
-- Tam
Goodbye, Mrs. Thatcher. The world needed you, and needs you still...
If you don't know much about Mrs. Thatcher, I recommend Claire Berlinski's excellent book There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters.
Here's a small collection of links to the varied thoughts of some political and economic observers upon her death:
Mark Steyn (an ex-Brit)
James Delingpole (a disgusted Brit)
Paul Johnson
Megan McArdle
My favorite two quotes from yesterday:
With her passing, there are no more men in England.
-- Sanford Begley
The Brits haven't had a PM fit to carry her purse since.
-- Tam
Goodbye, Mrs. Thatcher. The world needed you, and needs you still...
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Redbox Robotics...
Celeste apparently happened by a Redbox that was opened (for servicing, I presume), and she snapped this photo. The vertical cylindrical unit is basically a big storage carousel that can spin around under the control of a computer. Each of the seven levels appears to hold about 60 DVDs, so the total capacity is around 420 DVDs. The “picker” on the right just moves up and down, between levels. The Redbox's computer can load or unload any slot by moving the picker to the right level and spinning the cylinder around to put the right slot in front of the picker.
Celeste took the picture so she could show her (homeschooled!) kids how a Redbox actually works. There are quite a few explanations available on the web, I discovered – along with some incorrect information and some speculation that dwarf trolls live inside of every Redbox :)
When I first saw Celeste's photo, it reminded me of machines I worked with almost twenty years ago: robotic tape libraries. These were quite popular at big companies in the '90s (and still around today, though less common). Some of the tape libraries could hold thousands of tapes; others just a few dozen. The cylindrical design – very much like the Redbox machine – was very common for the smaller tape libraries. That design allows a simple mechanism to get at a reasonably large number of tapes (the tapes, by the way, were considerably larger than a DVD!). Larger tape libraries tended to use a linear design, reminiscent of large libraries; they could generally be extended to be as large as you'd like them to be...
Floppy Decoding Code for the 6502...
Here's a wonderful post talking about the process of writing code that decoded floppy disk data read in realtime, on a 6502 processor. Readers who are geekly and of a certain age will identify with this. Younger folks will probably just shake their heads at the lameness of their elders :)
What struck me about this post was the way the author brings back the challenges of programming on those old, slow microprocessors – and the way we engineers glommed onto tricks like the “illegal” op codes (almost every microprocessor had them). I never wrote any code that decoded floppy data, but I did many other similarly challenging things. A couple that spring to mind: variable-slew stepper motor control (to speed up and quieten floppy disk positioners) and realtime FSK radioteletype decoding, with multipath and single-side dropout handling. Both of these would be trivial today; your average smartphone could do it in a high-level language. But back then, the microprocessors could only do things like that if you pulled out every trick in the book, and perhaps invented a new trick or two along the way...
What struck me about this post was the way the author brings back the challenges of programming on those old, slow microprocessors – and the way we engineers glommed onto tricks like the “illegal” op codes (almost every microprocessor had them). I never wrote any code that decoded floppy data, but I did many other similarly challenging things. A couple that spring to mind: variable-slew stepper motor control (to speed up and quieten floppy disk positioners) and realtime FSK radioteletype decoding, with multipath and single-side dropout handling. Both of these would be trivial today; your average smartphone could do it in a high-level language. But back then, the microprocessors could only do things like that if you pulled out every trick in the book, and perhaps invented a new trick or two along the way...
Apollo 11...
If you were a sentient being on July 20, 1969, then almost certainly you spent that evening and night glued to a television set, watching and listening as Apollo 11 landed on the moon, and as Armstrong and Aldrin took that first, too-short “moon walk”. That was me – in the basement of my Uncle Donald's house, watching a little black-and-white screen for 10 hours or so straight.
I was the only one in that household interested enough to watch; my Aunt Marion was completely disinterested, my cousin Jonathan too busy chasing willing maidens, and my Uncle Donald (who was generally interested in science) was dismissive for reasons I never understood. But I was eagerly vacuuming up every scrap of information I could get my hands on. That information was quite limited back then – there was no Internet, of course. Printed publications were always days to years behind, absolutely useless for this purpose. The only media that could provide near-realtime images and sound was television – so, like hundreds of millions of others, I sat in front of the magic box.
The voice network called “CAPCOM” was available for the public; it was running (foreground or background) during all the contemporaneous coverage. Some other voice networks were occasionally patched in, but they were full of acronyms that nobody bothered explaining, so while they sounded cool they didn't really help elucidate what was going on. The science and technology reporters had a really tough job – they were trying to explain some pretty complicated things in a way that “Joe Everyman” would understand. I was frequently frustrated by their failure to talk about more interested and more complex aspects. But...this coverage was as good as it got, back then.
Now someone has put together an awesome web site that shows how one might experience Apollo 11 if it occurred today. I watched, enthralled, as the entire descent phase of Apollo 11 played out before my eyes. CAPCOM was on, along with the Flight Director's net. Transcripts for both play live. Video from the sequence camera is on screen. All of this is synchronized, and you can jump around any way you'd like.
For me, watching this was almost like traveling back in time. I was back in my uncle's basement, watching on the little black-and-white screen – and fully immersed in the excitement and anticipation of the moment. I didn't have a heart monitor going, but I'm certain my pulse and blood pressure were elevated.
Highly recommended!
I was the only one in that household interested enough to watch; my Aunt Marion was completely disinterested, my cousin Jonathan too busy chasing willing maidens, and my Uncle Donald (who was generally interested in science) was dismissive for reasons I never understood. But I was eagerly vacuuming up every scrap of information I could get my hands on. That information was quite limited back then – there was no Internet, of course. Printed publications were always days to years behind, absolutely useless for this purpose. The only media that could provide near-realtime images and sound was television – so, like hundreds of millions of others, I sat in front of the magic box.
The voice network called “CAPCOM” was available for the public; it was running (foreground or background) during all the contemporaneous coverage. Some other voice networks were occasionally patched in, but they were full of acronyms that nobody bothered explaining, so while they sounded cool they didn't really help elucidate what was going on. The science and technology reporters had a really tough job – they were trying to explain some pretty complicated things in a way that “Joe Everyman” would understand. I was frequently frustrated by their failure to talk about more interested and more complex aspects. But...this coverage was as good as it got, back then.
Now someone has put together an awesome web site that shows how one might experience Apollo 11 if it occurred today. I watched, enthralled, as the entire descent phase of Apollo 11 played out before my eyes. CAPCOM was on, along with the Flight Director's net. Transcripts for both play live. Video from the sequence camera is on screen. All of this is synchronized, and you can jump around any way you'd like.
For me, watching this was almost like traveling back in time. I was back in my uncle's basement, watching on the little black-and-white screen – and fully immersed in the excitement and anticipation of the moment. I didn't have a heart monitor going, but I'm certain my pulse and blood pressure were elevated.
Highly recommended!
Online Photos...
Interesting new web-based photo sharing site: Everpix. $49/year to host any number of photos. Well, maybe not quite unlimited – there are some weasel-words there to the effect that Everpix can shut down anyone with “excessive” use, whatever that means...
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Freeman Dyson...
A good story, partly about Freeman Dyson's status as an AGW skeptic. There's also a nice video about the Orion Project (nuclear bomb-powered rockets) and Dyson's participation in it.
I've read a lot about Freeman Dyson, and watched several documentaries that he was part of. One of his children (Esther) is prominent in the software industry; I've met her several times at conferences and once (around 1995) participated in a fascinating panel discussion that included her, about the future of the Internet. We all got it wrong, but she was arguably more right than the rest of us, predicting that the most fundamental impacts of the Internet would be on communications and social interactions. Another of his children (George) is a science historian, and I've read two of his books (both quite good).
I've read a lot about Freeman Dyson, and watched several documentaries that he was part of. One of his children (Esther) is prominent in the software industry; I've met her several times at conferences and once (around 1995) participated in a fascinating panel discussion that included her, about the future of the Internet. We all got it wrong, but she was arguably more right than the rest of us, predicting that the most fundamental impacts of the Internet would be on communications and social interactions. Another of his children (George) is a science historian, and I've read two of his books (both quite good).
Imagine...
Imagine, for one horrifying moment, that you're a bureaucrat within a major city's administrative staff. Within your purview are the city's collection of public swimming pools, including responsibility for hiring lifeguards. Now imagine that you're making up a list of requirements that applicants for lifeguard jobs must meet:
- swimming: nope, not required
- racial minority: you're hired
This is not a joke; it is the reality in Phoenix, Arizona. Seriously. And the progressives think it's just wonderful.
Doom...
- swimming: nope, not required
- racial minority: you're hired
This is not a joke; it is the reality in Phoenix, Arizona. Seriously. And the progressives think it's just wonderful.
Doom...
Oh, Noos!
Looks like the Jamul Indian Tribe has secured another financier (and manager) for their casino project. Penn National Gaming is the source. Details are skimpy, but they do claim $360 million for development of a 200,000 square foot, three story facility. They're claiming that construction will start later this year, and will take two years. They are, of course, wrapping this up with claims of job creation (“up to” 1,200 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs).
I'd never heard of Penn National Gaming, but a little quick searching reveals that they are a public company, traded on NASDAQ under the symbol PENN. Their stock price is on a roll. Market cap is $4.17B; revenues are approaching $3B/year – a significant company with lots of resources. They are currently operating 29 gambling facilities.
Here we go again...
I'd never heard of Penn National Gaming, but a little quick searching reveals that they are a public company, traded on NASDAQ under the symbol PENN. Their stock price is on a roll. Market cap is $4.17B; revenues are approaching $3B/year – a significant company with lots of resources. They are currently operating 29 gambling facilities.
Here we go again...
Painfully Grotesque Propaganda...
That's Tyler Durden's apt characterization of the latest news on the job front. The lamestream media was full of the “drop” in the unemployment rate (from 7.7% to 7.6%) and the lower-than-expected new jobs (about 40% of the consensus economist forecast, which just shows you how much that is worth.
That's the propaganda. The truth is much more dismal: the unemployment rate only went “down” because of an accounting trick I've discussed here many times before – the so-called “discouraged” workers are removed from the calculation altogether. If you actually want work, but you've given up looking for a job (because there aren't any!), you're not counted as unemployed. That makes sense only on Planet Politics, certainly not here on Earth.
A much more useful number is the labor force participation rate: the percentage of adults who are actually working. This month it dropped to 63.3%, the lowest since 1979. My readers of a certain age will recall that year as the height of the Jimmy Carter “stagnation” recession – absolutely awful economic conditions and a huge national debate about how to recover from it (this eventually helped propel Ronald Reagan into office). Now with the same labor force participation rate, we're being told that we're in the midst of a “slow, steady recovery”.
Well, pardon me for being skeptical. I hear the drums of doom, drawing ever closer...
Here's a graph showing the labor force participation rate since 1979. With our current population of about 310 million, each percentage point is millions of jobs. More information here and here...
That's the propaganda. The truth is much more dismal: the unemployment rate only went “down” because of an accounting trick I've discussed here many times before – the so-called “discouraged” workers are removed from the calculation altogether. If you actually want work, but you've given up looking for a job (because there aren't any!), you're not counted as unemployed. That makes sense only on Planet Politics, certainly not here on Earth.
A much more useful number is the labor force participation rate: the percentage of adults who are actually working. This month it dropped to 63.3%, the lowest since 1979. My readers of a certain age will recall that year as the height of the Jimmy Carter “stagnation” recession – absolutely awful economic conditions and a huge national debate about how to recover from it (this eventually helped propel Ronald Reagan into office). Now with the same labor force participation rate, we're being told that we're in the midst of a “slow, steady recovery”.
Well, pardon me for being skeptical. I hear the drums of doom, drawing ever closer...
Here's a graph showing the labor force participation rate since 1979. With our current population of about 310 million, each percentage point is millions of jobs. More information here and here...
Friday, April 5, 2013
There Are Many Skills...
...that I will never have. I've accepted that. This skill is surely amongst them! Via my lovely bride:
The Miracle of the Disposable Diaper...
My readers who know me will understand that this is a most unlikely title for a post of mine. Debbie and I don't have any children, and don't particularly like children (though some recipes might tempt us). So why would we know anything at all about disposable diapers, much less think them miraculous?
If you're inclined to make cracks about elderly incontinence, you'd be getting close – but it's not us that's having that problem, it's one of our dogs: Lea, our 15 year old female field spaniel.
According to data from the Field Spaniel Society of America, it's quite rare for field spaniels to live to this age (their data shows 1 of 366 dogs living to that age, and none any older). Stroke is the most common identified cause of death at that age in field spaniels.
So we know that each day we have Lea still with us is a minor miracle in and of itself. Amazingly she has no major health problems of any kind. She has a treatable thyroid condition (very common, treated with tablets), and a strange hair problem (her hair is very thin and less dense than normal), but otherwise she's fine.
Recently she's been unable to control her urination. This was a miserable cleanup job for us, especially since most of our house is carpeted. This is a common condition for elderly female dogs, and is often treatable with hormones – which we've tried, but unfortunately the treatment didn't work for Lea.
So we started isolating her in a baby playpen, with absorbent pads on the bottom of it. That worked in terms of keeping the house clean, but was miserable for Lea. Some online research led me to another answer: diapers, specifically, modern super-absorbent polymer based disposable diapers.
There are some disposable diapers made specifically for dogs, but they're expensive – around a dollar each. Diapers for human babies, of the right size, are much less expensive – about one third the cost. The fit for a dog is different than for a human baby, but aside from a hole for the dog's tail they are actually very similar. I found several posts from other dog owners dealing with this problem who recommended (quite specifically) Huggies “Snug and Dry” diapers with a manually-cut “tail hole” in them.
So we bought a small, experimental package of these diapers to see if they would work. Here's the miracle part: they do work, and they don't interfere with Lea's normal behavior around the house. Cutting the “tail hole” turns out to be a trivial affair – about 5 seconds with my pocket-knife, to make a slit. The diapers come printed with a pattern that makes it easy for me to put the hole in the right place each time (I'm sure that wasn't their intent, but it works just fine nonetheless :). The diapers have velcro-like fastening tabs that are reusable and secure. The fit is not a problem at all; dog hips and baby hips are sufficiently similar that the same diaper fits tightly on either. Lea's fur never gets wet, I think because when she urinates it goes straight into the diaper's absorbent polymers, right through a permeable layer on the inside. The reusability of the fastening tabs allows us to remove the diaper before walking her, and (assuming she hasn't peed in it) putting it back on afterwards.
On average, the diaper saves us a house mess about once a day. A couple of times I've been very surprised when removing the diaper, because it was quite heavy with captured urine – it is simply amazing how much those diapers can hold. The payoff is that our ancient and beloved dog can be with us and her fellow dogs, just as she is used to – without us having to pay the price of a soiled home. The diapers don't cost much (roughly $10/month) and they're really not much effort. That qualifies as a miracle in my book!
Now we've ordered a bigger box of diapers, and we're hoping that one of these fine days we'll need to re-order...
If you're inclined to make cracks about elderly incontinence, you'd be getting close – but it's not us that's having that problem, it's one of our dogs: Lea, our 15 year old female field spaniel.
According to data from the Field Spaniel Society of America, it's quite rare for field spaniels to live to this age (their data shows 1 of 366 dogs living to that age, and none any older). Stroke is the most common identified cause of death at that age in field spaniels.
So we know that each day we have Lea still with us is a minor miracle in and of itself. Amazingly she has no major health problems of any kind. She has a treatable thyroid condition (very common, treated with tablets), and a strange hair problem (her hair is very thin and less dense than normal), but otherwise she's fine.
Recently she's been unable to control her urination. This was a miserable cleanup job for us, especially since most of our house is carpeted. This is a common condition for elderly female dogs, and is often treatable with hormones – which we've tried, but unfortunately the treatment didn't work for Lea.
So we started isolating her in a baby playpen, with absorbent pads on the bottom of it. That worked in terms of keeping the house clean, but was miserable for Lea. Some online research led me to another answer: diapers, specifically, modern super-absorbent polymer based disposable diapers.
There are some disposable diapers made specifically for dogs, but they're expensive – around a dollar each. Diapers for human babies, of the right size, are much less expensive – about one third the cost. The fit for a dog is different than for a human baby, but aside from a hole for the dog's tail they are actually very similar. I found several posts from other dog owners dealing with this problem who recommended (quite specifically) Huggies “Snug and Dry” diapers with a manually-cut “tail hole” in them.
So we bought a small, experimental package of these diapers to see if they would work. Here's the miracle part: they do work, and they don't interfere with Lea's normal behavior around the house. Cutting the “tail hole” turns out to be a trivial affair – about 5 seconds with my pocket-knife, to make a slit. The diapers come printed with a pattern that makes it easy for me to put the hole in the right place each time (I'm sure that wasn't their intent, but it works just fine nonetheless :). The diapers have velcro-like fastening tabs that are reusable and secure. The fit is not a problem at all; dog hips and baby hips are sufficiently similar that the same diaper fits tightly on either. Lea's fur never gets wet, I think because when she urinates it goes straight into the diaper's absorbent polymers, right through a permeable layer on the inside. The reusability of the fastening tabs allows us to remove the diaper before walking her, and (assuming she hasn't peed in it) putting it back on afterwards.
On average, the diaper saves us a house mess about once a day. A couple of times I've been very surprised when removing the diaper, because it was quite heavy with captured urine – it is simply amazing how much those diapers can hold. The payoff is that our ancient and beloved dog can be with us and her fellow dogs, just as she is used to – without us having to pay the price of a soiled home. The diapers don't cost much (roughly $10/month) and they're really not much effort. That qualifies as a miracle in my book!
Now we've ordered a bigger box of diapers, and we're hoping that one of these fine days we'll need to re-order...
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Programming Is Changing...
The article that included the graph below surprised me:
The gist of the article is to note that in 2012 (the year graphed above), markedly fewer programmers are working in a single programming language. The article has the same data for 2010, and indeed there are many more programmers working in a single language just two years earlier.
The surprise for me isn't that we have more multiple-language programmers – it's that we have so many single language programmers, even today!
As I've written before, over the course of my career I've used dozens and dozens of programming languages – probably over 100 of them. If I look at just the last two years, I've used seven: Java, JavaScript, Scala, PHP, C, C++, PIC assembly (two of these at work, all seven for personal projects). I have trouble imagining an application programmer using less than two today, as just about every application uses JavaScript (for the client side) and at least one other language (for the server side). And what application today isn't a web app?
Certain kinds of programming, much less common these days, perhaps can be done with a single language – things like embedded systems, low-level systems programming, etc. But surely it isn't true that close to 20% of all programmers fall into these categories? I'll speculate that on some larger teams, it's possible to write for years in a single language because you're slotted into some narrow area of work. I still have trouble imagining 20% of all programmers fitting into that category.
So I'm surprised!
The gist of the article is to note that in 2012 (the year graphed above), markedly fewer programmers are working in a single programming language. The article has the same data for 2010, and indeed there are many more programmers working in a single language just two years earlier.
The surprise for me isn't that we have more multiple-language programmers – it's that we have so many single language programmers, even today!
As I've written before, over the course of my career I've used dozens and dozens of programming languages – probably over 100 of them. If I look at just the last two years, I've used seven: Java, JavaScript, Scala, PHP, C, C++, PIC assembly (two of these at work, all seven for personal projects). I have trouble imagining an application programmer using less than two today, as just about every application uses JavaScript (for the client side) and at least one other language (for the server side). And what application today isn't a web app?
Certain kinds of programming, much less common these days, perhaps can be done with a single language – things like embedded systems, low-level systems programming, etc. But surely it isn't true that close to 20% of all programmers fall into these categories? I'll speculate that on some larger teams, it's possible to write for years in a single language because you're slotted into some narrow area of work. I still have trouble imagining 20% of all programmers fitting into that category.
So I'm surprised!
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
A Reader Wonders...
...why I haven't posted more about my FJ Cruiser modifications.
Here's why: I'm right in the middle of a couple of modifications that turned into a really big project: mounting the roof lights (four large headlights for night-time offroading) and the CB radio (going on the ceiling in the center). These two modifications have one thing in common: the need to run wiring under the FJ's headliner (the material above your head when you're sitting in the car). To remove the headliner from the FJ, you have to disassemble nearly the entire interior of the car. In our spare room there is now a pile of perhaps 50 parts, along with a box with perhaps 75 fasteners of a bewildering variety. If you look into our FJ, you see metal everywhere – all the wiring, airbags, and windshield washer plumbing is fully exposed. I've mounted the CB antenna and run coax back to where the CB will be mounted; that will all be hidden between the headliner and the metal roof. Next up is running power to the roof lights and the CB; this includes punching a hole in the roof (yikes!) and running big fat wires through 1" tubing (gee, that oughtta be fun!). Only after that's all installed and tested can I put the FJ back together again. And only after that will Debbie make up her mind about whether I'm completely insane or just partially insane...
Here's why: I'm right in the middle of a couple of modifications that turned into a really big project: mounting the roof lights (four large headlights for night-time offroading) and the CB radio (going on the ceiling in the center). These two modifications have one thing in common: the need to run wiring under the FJ's headliner (the material above your head when you're sitting in the car). To remove the headliner from the FJ, you have to disassemble nearly the entire interior of the car. In our spare room there is now a pile of perhaps 50 parts, along with a box with perhaps 75 fasteners of a bewildering variety. If you look into our FJ, you see metal everywhere – all the wiring, airbags, and windshield washer plumbing is fully exposed. I've mounted the CB antenna and run coax back to where the CB will be mounted; that will all be hidden between the headliner and the metal roof. Next up is running power to the roof lights and the CB; this includes punching a hole in the roof (yikes!) and running big fat wires through 1" tubing (gee, that oughtta be fun!). Only after that's all installed and tested can I put the FJ back together again. And only after that will Debbie make up her mind about whether I'm completely insane or just partially insane...
The Most Symmetrical Thing Ever Made by Man...
That would be these niobium-coated fused quartz spheres, which about 1.5" (3.8 cm) in diameter and are spherical to within 40 atomic diameters...
Planetary Photos...
Michael Benson makes planetary photographs from original science data, using up to hundreds of images to make a mosaic. He also goes to great lengths to get the color “right”, meaning that the color in his photos is what we would see if we could somehow get to the planet (or moon) in question. Below is one example: Jupiter's fantastical moon Io:
There's a collection of his images in this article.
Kitchen Conversions...
Amongst the many irritations of living in nearly the only country that doesn't use the metric system of measurements is the need to remember all the crazy arbitrary stupid ratios of American measurements, like the number of teaspoons in a tablespoon, or the number of ounces in a quart. This infographic makes it all easy:
Of course, it would be even easier if we'd just convert to the metric system like the rest of the world! I don't expect to live long enough to see that, though...
Of course, it would be even easier if we'd just convert to the metric system like the rest of the world! I don't expect to live long enough to see that, though...
Plant Circles in African Deserts...
What causes these odd-looking circles – so-called “fairy rings” – found in the Namib desert? Answer: sand termites.
Children Should Be Supervised By Adults...
A fun collection of tricks you can use to win bar bets. A bar is approximately the last place you'd ever find me, but I think some of these might be fun when gathering with friends somewhere else, too:
California's Net Worth...
We're talking about the net worth of the state government, not of all the people and businesses in the state. The net worth of the state government is the sum of all its assets (buildings, land, cash, investments, taxes due) minus the sum of all the liabilities (debts, pension obligations, etc.). For most of California's history, the net worth of the state has been somewhere between a few billion dollars negative to several hundred billion positive (the latter during Ronald Reagan's term). Today: -127.2 billion dollars. That's over $3,000 for each man, woman, and child in the state. Sheesh...
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Test Reel for New Camera...
Teton Gravity Research makes gyro-stabilized cameras, most often used by mounting to helicopters or airplanes. The challenges involved in engineering such cameras go up proportionally to their resolution. They've just released a “4K” camera with much higher resolution than standard HD video, and the results are stunning. You can see them showing this new device off in the video below. To capture the full effect, expand it to fill your screen:
Best of...April Fool's Day Pranks...
Here's a small collection of classic April Fool's Day pranks from the past. We start with two absolutely classic short videos, both from the BBC:
And then here are two nice collections: here and here. My favorite one, slightly geekly, is the 1977 prank from the London Guardian, contained in the second collection linked...
And then here are two nice collections: here and here. My favorite one, slightly geekly, is the 1977 prank from the London Guardian, contained in the second collection linked...
Monday, April 1, 2013
Steve McIntyre's Hero...
Steve McIntyre has a hero himself: his mom. Here he points out an article about her conquering her fear of heights – at 89 years old!
Sunday, March 31, 2013
How Liberals Look to Conservatives or Libertarians...
The liberals could, of course, come up with own version of these. The cartoons nicely illustrate the yawning gulf between liberal positions (and, presumably, the thinking behind them) and those of conservatives or libertarians – to whom these liberal/progressive positions simply make no sense at all...
Via my mom:
Via my mom:
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Freedom in the 50 States...
Here's a fascinating interactive infographic exploring different aspects of freedom in all 50 states, from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University:
Utah sure looks good compared with California...
Utah sure looks good compared with California...
You Decide...
I stumbled across this list of “body hacks”. Are they for real, or BS? You decide...
Cure a Tickling Throat
When you were 9, playing your armpit was a cool trick. Now, as an adult, you can still appreciate a good body-based feat, especially if it serves as a health remedy. Take that tickle in your throat: It's not worth gagging over. Here's a better way to scratch your itch: Scratch your ear. "When the nerves in the ear are stimulated, it creates a reflex in the throat that can cause a muscle spasm," says Scott Schaffer, M.D., president of an ear, nose, and throat specialty center in Gibbsboro, New Jersey. "This spasm relieves the tickle."
Experience Supersonic Hearing
If you're stuck chatting up a mumbler at a cocktail party, lean in with your right ear. It's better than your left at following the rapid rhythms of speech, according to researchers at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. If, on the other hand, you're trying to identify that song playing softly in the elevator, turn your left ear toward the sound. The left ear is better at picking up music tones.
Overcome Your Most Primal Urge
Need to pee? No bathroom nearby? Fantasize about Jessica Simpson. Thinking about sex preoccupies your brain, so you won't feel as much discomfort, says Larry Lipshultz, M.D., chief of male reproductive medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine. For best results, try Simpson's "These Boots Are Made for Walking" video.
Feel No Pain
German researchers have discovered that coughing during an injection can lessen the pain of the needle stick. According to Taras Usichenko, author of a study on the phenomenon, the trick causes a sudden, temporary rise in pressure in the chest and spinal canal, inhibiting the pain-conducting structures of the spinal cord.
Clear Your Stuffed Nose
Forget Sudafed. Here's an easier, quicker, and cheaper remedy to relieve sinus pressure: Alternate thrusting your tongue against the roof of your mouth, then pressing between your eyebrows with one finger. This causes the vomer bone, which runs through the nasal passages to the mouth, to rock back and forth, says Lisa DeStefano, D.O., an assistant professor at the Michigan State University college of osteopathic medicine. The motion loosens congestion; after 20 seconds, you'll feel your sinuses start to drain.
Fight Fire Without Water
Worried those wings will repeat on you tonight? Try this preventive remedy: "Sleep on your left side," says Anthony A. Starpoli, M.D., a New York City gastroenterologist and assistant professor of medicine at New York Medical College. Studies have shown that patients who sleep on their left sides are less likely to suffer from acid reflux. The esophagus and stomach connect at an angle. When you sleep on your right, the stomach is higher than the esophagus, allowing food and stomach acid to slide up your throat. When you're on your left, the stomach is lower than the esophagus, so gravity's in your favor.
Cure Your Toothache
Just rub ice on the back of your hand, on the V-shaped webbed area between your thumb and index finger. A Canadian study found that this technique reduces toothache pain by as much as 50 percent compared with using no ice. The nerve pathways at the base of that V stimulate an area of the brain that blocks pain signals from the face and hands.
Make Burns Disappear
When you accidentally singe your finger on the stove, clean the skin and apply light pressure with the finger pads of your unmarred hand. Ice will relieve your pain more quickly, Dr. DeStefano says, but since the natual method brings the burned skin back to a normal temperature, the skin is less likely to blister.
Stop the World from Spinning
One too many drinks left you dizzy? Ah, luckily there's a remedy. Put your hand on something stable. The part of your ear responsible for balance—the cupula—floats in a fluid of the same density as blood. "As alcohol dilutes blood in the cupula, the cupula becomes less dense and rises," says Dr. Schaffer. This confuses your brain. The tactile input from a stable object gives the brain a second opinion, and you feel more in balance. Because the nerves in the hand are so sensitive, this works better than the conventional foot-on-the-floor wisdom.
Unstitch Your Side
If you're like most people, when you run, you exhale as your right foot hits the ground. This puts downward pressure on your liver (which lives on your right side), which then tugs at the diaphragm and creates a side stitch, according to The Doctors Book of Home Remedies for Men. The fix: Exhale as your left foot strikes the ground.
Stanch Blood with One Finger
Pinching your nose and leaning back is a great way to stop a nosebleed—if you don't mind choking on your own O positive. A more civil approach: Put some cotton on your upper gums—just behind that small dent below your nose—and press against it, hard. "Most bleeds come from the front of the septum, the cartilage wall that divides the nose," says Peter Desmarais, M.D., an ear, nose, and throat specialist at Entabeni Hospital, in Durban, South Africa. "Pressing here helps stop them."
Make Your Heart Stand Still
Trying to quell first-date jitters? Blow on your thumb. The vagus nerve, which governs heart rate, can be controlled through breathing, says Ben Abo, an emergency medical-services specialist at the University of Pittsburgh. It'll get your heart rate back to normal.
Thaw Your Brain
Too much Chipwich too fast will freeze the brains of lesser men. As for you, press your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth, covering as much as you can. "Since the nerves in the roof of your mouth get extremely cold, your body thinks your brain is freezing, too," says Abo. "In compensating, it overheats, causing an ice-cream headache." The more pressure you apply to the roof of your mouth, the faster your headache will subside.
Prevent Near-Sightedness
Poor distance vision is rarely caused by genetics, says Anne Barber, O.D., an optometrist in Tacoma, Washington. "It's usually caused by near-point stress." In other words, staring at your computer screen for too long. So flex your way to 20/20 vision. Every few hours during the day, close your eyes, tense your body, take a deep breath, and, after a few seconds, release your breath and muscles at the same time. Tightening and releasing muscles such as the biceps and glutes can trick involuntary muscles—like the eyes—into relaxing as well.
Wake the Dead
If your hand falls asleep while you're driving or sitting in an odd position, rock your head from side to side. It'll painlessly banish your pins and needles in less than a minute, says Dr. DeStefano. A tingly hand or arm is often the result of compression in the bundle of nerves in your neck; loosening your neck muscles releases the pressure. Compressed nerves lower in the body govern the feet, so don't let your sleeping dogs lie. Stand up and walk around.
Impress Your Friends
Next time you're at a party, try this trick: Have a person hold one arm straight out to the side, palm down, and instruct him to maintain this position. Then place two fingers on his wrist and push down. He'll resist. Now have him put one foot on a surface that's a half inch higher (a few magazines) and repeat. This time his arm will cave like the French. By misaligning his hips, you've offset his spine, says Rachel Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., co-owner of Results Fitness, in Santa Clarita, California. Your brain senses that the spine is vulnerable, so it shuts down the body's ability to resist.
Breathe Underwater
If you're dying to retrieve that quarter from the bottom of the pool, take several short breaths first—essentially, hyperventilate. When you're underwater, it's not a lack of oxygen that makes you desperate for a breath; it's the buildup of carbon dioxide, which makes your blood acidic, which signals your brain that somethin' ain't right. "When you hyperventilate, the influx of oxygen lowers blood acidity," says Jonathan Armbruster, Ph.D., an associate professor of biology at Auburn University. "This tricks your brain into thinking it has more oxygen." It'll buy you up to 10 seconds.
Read Minds
Your own! "If you're giving a speech the next day, review it before falling asleep," says Candi Heimgartner, an instructor of biological sciences at the University of Idaho. Since most memory consolidation happens during sleep, anything you read right before bed is more likely to be encoded as long-term memory.
Friday, March 29, 2013
He Fooled Everyone...
Remember this winter when a photograph of a New York City cop who bought a $100 pair of boots for a homeless guy went viral? The cop was (appropriately) lauded, and everybody felt great about it. Barefoot in the winter, the homeless guy was now well-equipped.
But...
The “homeless guy” was a fake. The cop didn't know it, but this guy was running a scam, pretending to be a homeless guy while raking in over $100k tax-free dollars a year from generous New Yorkers. He also has dozens of pairs of shoes donated by Good Samaritans like the cop, all stored in his (rather nice) apartment.
Sigh...
But...
The “homeless guy” was a fake. The cop didn't know it, but this guy was running a scam, pretending to be a homeless guy while raking in over $100k tax-free dollars a year from generous New Yorkers. He also has dozens of pairs of shoes donated by Good Samaritans like the cop, all stored in his (rather nice) apartment.
Sigh...
FJ Mods: Wheels and Tires...
This was a simple modification, exchanging the factory alloy wheels (vulnerable to shattering if smacked hard on a rock) and street tires for steel wheels and offroad tires. We got these wheels and these tires, and we're quite happy with both. The puncture-resistant Kevlar sidewalls and tread design are a perfect combination for what we're going to be doing offroad, and the silica rubber is superior on wet surfaces.
FJ Mods: Ravelco...
For years now, I've known that automobile burglar alarms were almost completely ineffective as a theft deterrent. Insurance companies keep wonderful statistics on such things, and these statistics don't lie: cars equipped with burglar alarms are actually more likely to be stolen than those without. The actuaries are certain that counter-intuitive result is a sampling bias problem – desirable cars are (of course!) more likely to have a burglar alarm installed. But here's the statistic that tells you burglar alarms don't work: there is no statistically significant difference between the theft rates for any particular car model and year for those with or without burglar alarms. None. Zip. Nada.
So how do you keep your car from being stolen? LoJack will help you recover it once it has been stolen, but what if you'd like to avoid the theft in the first place? Currently the best theft deterrents are “immobilizers” – devices that keep a thief from operating your car. Immobilizers won't stop a really determined thief who loads your ride onto a tow truck and makes off with it, but they will stop the more typical thief who's going to hot-wire the ignition and drive away.
Immobilizers work by disabling some vital part of your car's electronics, most commonly some combination of starter motor, ignition, fuel pump, fuel injectors, or automatic transmission control. Nearly all immobilizers are wired under the dashboard, which makes them vulnerable to a knowledgeable thief who wants to disable them. YouTube and many web sites have videos that teach you how to hot-wire immobilizer-equipped cars, with examples from many makes and models (especially the factory-supplied immobilizers). Clever people figure out the method, then people with questionable motivations publish the videos showing the techniques. Yikes!
Enterprising and knowledgeable car owners often install “kill switches” in a hidden location. These kill switches do the same thing a commercial immobilizer does (interrupting some vital electronics), but in a simpler and non-standard way. The non-standard part makes it harder for the thief; the simpler part makes it easier: if a thief crawls under the dash and spots the kill switch or its wires, he knows exactly what to do to defeat the kill switch.
The Ravelco folks had a very simple idea about how to make a more effective “kill switch”. Then they added some clever bits to make it harder to defeat. The result is a ridiculously simple device, with nothing to go wrong, that's remarkably hard to defeat. It's also hard to install :)
The simple idea is this: the Ravelco socket (at right, above) is installed somewhere inside your car. In my case I installed it in a hidden location that's very easy to get to. That socket has 16 pins, but only five of them are connected to the five wires that extend from the back of the socket: two pairs and a ground wire. The Ravelco plug (at left, above) has a matching set of 16 pins, but only four pins are wired up (two pairs of pins are wired together). Both the socket and the plug have their wiring embedded in the hard molded plastic; you can't look at it to see which wires are wired to which pins.
Each of the pairs of wires is connected to some vital electronic system in such a way that when the plug is removed that electronic system is disabled. In my case I wired them into the ignition power circuit and the fuel injector power circuit. With the plug removed, you can crank the engine over but it won't start: there's no fuel and there's no spark. With the plug installed, the fuel injectors and ignition gets power, and the car runs fine.
If a thief is faced with the empty Ravelco socket and wants to make a brute force attack, here's what he's up against. If you do the math, there are over a half million permutations of the wiring arrangement. Every Ravelco is wired differently, so the thief, on average, would have to try a quarter million different jumper arrangements before he found the one that worked. It's actually not quite that good, as the pin connected to ground can be found easily with an ohmmeter, but still the thief would need to try over 100,000 jumper arrangements. Each jumper arrangement would take at least 5 seconds to insert and test - so we're talking about almost a week of 24-hour-a-day testing to find the answer. Brute force isn't going to work :)
Here's where the extra clever bits on the Ravelco come into play. First, the wires coming out the back of the plug are inside a flexible steel sheath, which extends all the way to the firewall (where the wires go through a hole into the engine compartment). It would be very difficult indeed for a thief working inside your car to extract those wires and try shorting various wires together. With just five wires, the number of combinations to test is considerable smaller: just ten.
So the thief would have to open your engine compartment, find the right wires (if you've ever looked inside a modern engine, you know that even that step is challenging – there are a lot of wires in there!), and then try shorting them together in various combinations. However, there's a problem there: some combinations are likely to blow a fuse. Once you blow the fuse, none of the combinations will work. So to maximize his chances of success, the thief needs to follow those wires to their destination so he can figure out on the first try which wires need to be shorted together.
Ravelco goes to great lengths to tell you to hide those wires deep inside big cable harnesses. That's what makes it difficult to install, but it also adds a tremendous degree of difficulty for the thief. In my case the wires are buried inside three feet of cable harness, traversing four junctions in the process. The thief would have no choice but to laboriously follow those wires to where they connect with factory wires, all without interrupting any other wires. With all the right tools and perfect knowledge, I'd guess that would take about an hour. What thief would work under the hood of your car for an hour?
Simple idea, clever implementation. I recommend it. Ravelco's business arrangements are clever, too. Usually it costs $500 to $750 to get a Ravelco installed. There are about $10 worth of parts in it, so that's a lot of profit margin! The reason they can maintain this is that they won't sell you the parts directly – only dealers can buy the parts, and the dealers are contractually obligated to provide the Ravelco installed. That installation is where they make their money. I was lucky enough to find a brand-new Ravelco on eBay. I bought it from some enterprising fellow who bought the assets of a failed Ravelco dealer, including his inventory of brand-new Ravelcos. As I write this, there are still quite a few available. I paid $50, and then was able to make an installation the way I wanted to, with the maximum amount of buried wires. I've read stories of much poorer dealer installations; they, of course, are motivated to reduce the time they spend on the installation.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Forget Reservoirs and Power Grids...
After 9/11 there was a surplus of crazy talk about the vulnerability (and need to protect) public infrastructure like water reservoirs (easily poisoned, the thinking was) and electrical power grids (remote high-tension lines are vulnerable). Fortunately the level of this crazy talk has dropped significantly upon the realization of two things: (1) protecting all this infrastructure was completely impossible (it's too darned big and distributed), and (2) it really isn't as vulnerable as it seems (there's lots of redundancy built in).
This news story about divers trying to sever an Internet cable feeding Egypt got me to thinking about the vulnerability of the Internet to terrorists. Those Internet cables, which I've written about before, are vulnerable to attack and (if severed) could have large economic impacts. Furthermore, the routers that terminate those cables are potentially vulnerable to attack over the Internet itself (hacking, in other words).
In most of the developed world there is sufficient redundancy in these cables that it would be very difficult for an attacker to cause serious economic harm. For instance, New York City has dozens of Internet “feeds” connecting it to the rest of the Internet. Taking out all those feeds at once would be exceedingly difficult.
In some other parts of the world (like Egypt), this is not true – there may only be a few (sometimes even just one!) Internet feed connecting an entire region to the Internet. If a terrorist organization were to take out those feeds, that region would likely suffer considerable damage. Very little international business today is conducted without the use of the Internet. Even simple things, such as buying bulk loads of spices from Madagascar, often rely on the Internet for the marketing, sales, negotiation, funds transfer, and coordination of the purchase. In those places, I would think the Internet cable would be a prime target for the bad guys...
This news story about divers trying to sever an Internet cable feeding Egypt got me to thinking about the vulnerability of the Internet to terrorists. Those Internet cables, which I've written about before, are vulnerable to attack and (if severed) could have large economic impacts. Furthermore, the routers that terminate those cables are potentially vulnerable to attack over the Internet itself (hacking, in other words).
In most of the developed world there is sufficient redundancy in these cables that it would be very difficult for an attacker to cause serious economic harm. For instance, New York City has dozens of Internet “feeds” connecting it to the rest of the Internet. Taking out all those feeds at once would be exceedingly difficult.
In some other parts of the world (like Egypt), this is not true – there may only be a few (sometimes even just one!) Internet feed connecting an entire region to the Internet. If a terrorist organization were to take out those feeds, that region would likely suffer considerable damage. Very little international business today is conducted without the use of the Internet. Even simple things, such as buying bulk loads of spices from Madagascar, often rely on the Internet for the marketing, sales, negotiation, funds transfer, and coordination of the purchase. In those places, I would think the Internet cable would be a prime target for the bad guys...
Red State Success...
Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore have a piece in today's Wall Street Journal ($) that delves into the quite evident differences in economic success between red (Republican) and blue (Democratic) states. If you've been paying attention to this at all, there's not much news in here (though there are a few interesting observations I hadn't heard before). If you haven't been paying attention to the differences between the various states, it's a great (and very short) primer on the topic.
Every time I think about these obvious differences, I wonder the same thing to myself: how is it possible that voters keep voting for the politicians who have inflicted economic disaster upon them? The best theory I know of to explain it is the “low information voter” theory – the idea that most voters really don't have any rational basis for their vote; they just vote for whomever “feels” better to them.
Then I just get sad...
Every time I think about these obvious differences, I wonder the same thing to myself: how is it possible that voters keep voting for the politicians who have inflicted economic disaster upon them? The best theory I know of to explain it is the “low information voter” theory – the idea that most voters really don't have any rational basis for their vote; they just vote for whomever “feels” better to them.
Then I just get sad...
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
The 12 Most Controversial Math Problems...
Upon seeing this headline, I clicked to see what I thought would be an article on problems that challenged mathematicians, but that's not at all what this article is about. Instead, it's about math problems that challenge ordinary people's understanding – and it's quite well explained and illustrated. About half of these problems are some I'd run across before as brain teasers; the other half were new to me. All were interesting and illuminating. Recommended reading!
Nuts to Them...
So says Mark Steyn, on the occasion of a particularly galling ruling by the Canadian Supreme Court. Mr. Steyn has a short piece on the ruling, with this conclusion:
...In Canada, the law denies "the right to say his piece" to the likes of Bill Whatcott, a man who believes that homosexuals are sinners and in need of God's grace and forgiveness, but it has no objection to those who think homosexuals are evil and should be put to death. Mr. Philips need never fear the scrutiny of the "human rights" commission, or the cost of ten-year legal battles.But do go read the whole thing...
No homosexual needs the state's protection from Bill Whatcott. But all of us need protection from nitwit jurists blithely sacrificing core Western liberties to ideological compliance. It's not about Left vs. Right, gay vs. straight, religious vs. secular; it's about free vs. unfree. And on that most profound question, Canada's supreme court is on the wrong side. Nuts to them.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Dragon Dreams...
I'm Not Going to Africa...
...because they're suffering from a rash of genital theft:
Reports of genital theft have spread like an epidemic across West and Central Africa over the past two decades, in tandem with what appears to be a general resurgence of witchcraft on the continent. Anthropologists have explained this rise as a response to an increasingly mystifying and capricious global economy. Which is to say that when the workings of capital are as genuinely obscure as they are in today’s Africa, proceeding behind a veil of complexity and corruption, rumors of “occult economies”—often involving a trade in human organs—offer a less mystifying explanation for the radical disparities in wealth on display.
Biden Blooper...
I guess that headline is a bit redundant, eh? A few days ago, Joe Biden amused many knowledgeable about guns – and infuriated many of the female members of that cohort. Now there's a short video demonstrating where these reactions came from:
We have a semi-automatic 12 gauge shotgun with a seven shell magazine. When loaded with magnum shells and shooting repeatedly, that thing will practically knock me down (and I'm not exactly a lightweight). It leaves big bruises on my shoulder. It would take an unusually strong woman to comfortably handle that weapon...
We have a semi-automatic 12 gauge shotgun with a seven shell magazine. When loaded with magnum shells and shooting repeatedly, that thing will practically knock me down (and I'm not exactly a lightweight). It leaves big bruises on my shoulder. It would take an unusually strong woman to comfortably handle that weapon...
Race Needs This...
Race is our young border collie, who is obsessed with chasing anything roughly round that you might throw. Pine cones, tennis balls, styrofoam packing material, it doesn't matter. Our arms get tired of throwing long before he gets tired of retrieving. This machine, scaled up for outdoor use and 200' throws, would be perfect for him:
Monday, March 25, 2013
Let's Hear it for Weirdos!
I take some pride in being weird – a weirdo. I've long proclaimed that being normal is boring. This morning I read a great blog post by Michael Lazerow that ends with this:
Weirdos don’t see anything as impossible. Anything is possible. Just give us enough time.A high-Q resonance here...
Weirdos are contrarians. They think differently and act even more differently. Normals try to fit in. Weirdos stick out without really trying.
Weirdos aren’t driven by money. Money is a destination. Weirdos are all about the journey.
Weirdos don’t care what others think. They only care THAT they think and want to change HOW they think.
Weirdos come in all shapes and sizes, colors and countries. And they're not new to the tech industry, or industry in general.
Weirdos thought it made sense to get on the Mayflower from England to settle in a new land.
Weirdos thought we should get rid of slavery.
Weirdos insisted that women should also have a vote.
The world would suck if it weren’t for weirdos.
Instead of trying to get our kids to fit in, we should help them celebrate why they are different.
Let’s start to teach kids to embrace weird. Weird is good.
And let’s not stop until weird is normal.
Strange Programming Language Features...
Fascinating thread on StackExchange, if you're of a geekly bent...
Mandatory School Subject: Chess...
The little country of Armenia has made the study of chess a required subject in its public schools. There seem to be two objectives: grooming chess masters (to make Armenia a chess powerhouse), and training young minds to think.
Where and when I grew up (New Jersey, in the '50s and '60s), chess was popular. We had no actual chess classes, but we did have a chess club that offered instruction, and it was easy to get matches at any level. I was a semi-serious player in junior high school, active in the schools chess club; less so before and after that. I do believe that having an enjoyable pastime that required intellectual discipline and active thought was helpful in developing my mind. I can't say it was all chess, though, as I had several such pastimes. More important to me at the time was my interest in designing electronic systems. Later – specifically, while teaching myself how to program in the '70s – I remember noting that the process of designing and writing programs “felt” a lot like the process of seriously playing chess. There's the body of practical experience to learn from, elements of strategy and tactics in the design, and even the notion of sequential execution (that is, the way chess moves occur in a specific order is analogous to the way computers execute instructions one after the other). On occasion, I've even thought of programming as involving an active opponent :)
I can't help but wonder what the results of this experiment will be...
Where and when I grew up (New Jersey, in the '50s and '60s), chess was popular. We had no actual chess classes, but we did have a chess club that offered instruction, and it was easy to get matches at any level. I was a semi-serious player in junior high school, active in the schools chess club; less so before and after that. I do believe that having an enjoyable pastime that required intellectual discipline and active thought was helpful in developing my mind. I can't say it was all chess, though, as I had several such pastimes. More important to me at the time was my interest in designing electronic systems. Later – specifically, while teaching myself how to program in the '70s – I remember noting that the process of designing and writing programs “felt” a lot like the process of seriously playing chess. There's the body of practical experience to learn from, elements of strategy and tactics in the design, and even the notion of sequential execution (that is, the way chess moves occur in a specific order is analogous to the way computers execute instructions one after the other). On occasion, I've even thought of programming as involving an active opponent :)
I can't help but wonder what the results of this experiment will be...
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