If You Know Me...

If you know me at all, you will be completely unsurprised when I tell you that I am related to the man who created the “snow-alien” at right (as always, click to enlarge – if you dare!).  My brother Scott (who has a landscaping business in Virginia Beach, Virgina, called Artist in the Garden) is the perpetrator.  The snow-alien was quite a hit with the neighbors, we understand.  Proudly showing it off is my sister Holly (who has a web-based business called Learn English with a WorldWide Perspective), who lives near my parents in Charlottesville, Virginia.  We were all there visiting my parents a few days ago when a snowstorm dumped a bunch of that wet white stuff we see so rarely out here in California...and Scott just couldn't resist the opportunity...

Sad, Sad Arthur...

Via my mom:

Arthur is 90 years old. He's played golf every day since his retirement 25 years ago.  One day he arrives home looking sad.

"That's it," he tells his wife. "I'm giving up golf. My eyesight has become so bad that once I hit the ball I couldn't see where it went."

His wife makes him a cup of tea, and says, "Why don't you take my brother with you and give it one more try."

"That's no good" sighs Arthur, "your brother's a hundred and three. He can't help."

"He may be a hundred and three", says the wife, "but his eyesight is perfect."

So the next day Arthur heads off to the golf course with his brother-in-law. He tees up, takes a mighty swing and squints down the fairway.

He turns to the brother-in-law and says, "Did you see the ball?"

"Of course I did!" replied the brother-in-law. "I have perfect eyesight".

"Where did it go?" says Arthur.

"I don't remember."

Rescue of Thirty Dolphins...

A very nice story from Brazil, via friend and colleague Frankie T.:

In the News...

Here's something I don't get to write very often: slide rules in the news!

I have several of the Gilson slide rules in my collection, including a couple in pristine condition...

What He Said...

From “Advice From An Old Programmer”:

...learning to create software changes you and makes you different. Not better or worse, just different. You may find that people treat you harshly because you can create software, maybe using words like "nerd". Maybe you'll find that because you can dissect their logic that they hate arguing with you. You may even find that simply knowing how a computer works makes you annoying and weird to them.

To this I have just one piece of advice: they can go to hell. The world needs more weird people who know how things work and who love to figure it all out. When they treat you like this, just remember that this is your journey, not theirs. Being different is not a crime, and people who tell you it is are just jealous that you've picked up a skill they never in their wildest dreams could acquire.

You can code. They cannot. That is pretty damn cool.

Yes.  What he said!

Clothing Tag Humor...

Nice collection of funny clothing tags.  My favorite is at right, but there are several more really good ones...

Whiskey...

Reader Jim M. passes along this great example of a politician at work:

In 1952, Armon M. Sweat, Jr., a member of the Texas House of Representatives, was asked about his position on whiskey. What follows is his exact answer (taken from the Political Archives of Texas):

"If you mean whiskey, the devil's brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the home, creates misery and poverty, yea, literally takes the bread from the mouths of little children; if you mean that evil drink that topples Christian men and women from the pinnacles of righteous and gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation, shame, despair, helplessness, and hopelessness, then, my friend, I am opposed to it with every fiber of my being.

However, if by whiskey you mean the lubricant of conversation, the philosophic juice, the elixir of life, the liquid that is consumed when good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas cheer, the stimulating sip that puts a little spring in the step of an elderly gentleman on a frosty morning; if you mean that drink that enables man to magnify his joy, and to forget life's great tragedies and heartbreaks and sorrow; if you mean that drink the sale of which pours into Texas treasuries untold millions of dollars each year, that provides tender care for our little crippled children, our blind, our deaf, our dumb, our pitifully aged and infirm, to build the finest highways, hospitals, universities, and community colleges in this nation, then my friend, I am absolutely, unequivocally in favor of it.

This is my position, and as always, I refuse to compromise on matters of principle."

British National Health Service is Great! Not.

Interesting piece in the London Telegraph.  Most of the Brits I know (and most especially those who have travelled in the U.S.) think the NHS stinks.  They do tend to like the idea of “free” healthcare, though – who wouldn't?  If only it were really free...

Light Blogging Alert!

I'll be travelling for the next few days, to Virginia and Washington, D.C. (pray for me).  Blogging will be light-to-nonexistant...

Ormie...

Via my mom:

Will Using Expired Drugs Kill You?

Cecil answers the important questions in his inimitable fashion.  The question, from Neil:

Is consuming expired prescription medicines really all that dangerous? Some friends of mine insist taking pills beyond the printed expiration date is flirting with death, while another claims expiration dates on labels are BS, there solely to prompt us to order refills and spend more money. I once treated a nasty headache with the only thing I had on hand, some Vicodin that was about a year out of date. My headache went away, and I was no worse for wear. As time passes, are the pills in their little plastic bottles chemically restructuring themselves into poisons, or is there nothing to fear?

The beginning of Cecil's answer:

We have to tread carefully here, Neil. A few drugs don’t age well — for example, nitroglycerin and insulin. But they’re the exception. Most drugs retain their potency for years after they supposedly expire. What’s more, everybody knows this, or ought to; the Wall Street Journal once ran a front-page exposé on the subject.

But you don’t see anyone pushing for expiration date reform. Why not? No doubt because of the same combination of greed and excessive caution that drives up all healthcare costs: (1) The drug companies potentially could forego billions of dollars in lost sales; (2) the amount individual consumers could save is relatively trifling; and (3) there’s a remote but nonzero chance somebody relying on defunct drugs could die.

Read the whole thing.  You know you want to!

Sergei Bobkov's Art...

Via my mom.  Many more photos here.  Awesome!

Shake Your Head!

Carefully, though, don't hurt yourself!  If you shake your head side-to-side while staring at the picture at right, it becomes more obvious what the picture is showing. 
I've noticed a similar phenomenon when looking through window screens, or (better yet) picket fences.  It's a terrific example of how your brain puts assembles information gathered over time...

This isn't really an illusion in the usual sense, but more a demonstration of the brain's contribution to perception...

Via friend and reader Simon M...

Grace Hopper...

While I was in Navy “C” school at Mare Island, California I had the chance to meet Grace Hopper.  This would have been in 1972 or 1973.  At the time, I had no idea of her career or accomplishments.  I first met her when she lectured to a large group of people attending and teaching the various technical schools there (mainly Data Systems Technicians and various rates attending cryptographic schools).  This must have been late in the week, because on the following weekend I met her again – this time much less formally, and one-on-one.  That meeting was quite memorable.

The Data Systems Technician school that I was attending had a “lab” with a large collection of the kinds of equipment we were learning how to repair.  This collection included a number of military Univac computers (models like the 1206a, 1206b, 1218, and 1230, for those of you who can remember such antiques).  This was like a playground for me after school hours; I spent many evening and weekend hours just poking around in there, learning as much as I could.  Most of the time, I had this extensive lab completely to myself.

On the weekend in question, I had rolled an oscilloscope (they were big back then!) over to a computer, and I was running a little test program and observing how the electronics responded – trying to figure out how the hardware integer square root instruction (on a 1206b) actually worked.  While heads down, staring at a schematic, I heard someone come up behind me.  I turned around, and there was Grace Hopper – with a friendly smile, and in civilian clothes. She was a high-ranking officer, normally quite a scary thing to a low-ranking enlisted guy like myself.  But it was obvious right from the first that she was “just people”, and not the type to insist (as many officers did) on formalities.

Ms. Hopper wanted to know why I was there, and what I was up to.  When I told her I was trying to figure out the damned square root instruction, she hauled me off to a blackboard (yes, with slate and chalk!), and launched into a great explanation.  By the time we were done, I knew that thing inside and out.

Then she sat with me for another half hour or so, and just talked about working with computers.  She was the first person I'd met who was actually passionate about working with computers – and she was also the first programmer I'd ever met.  The people I was surrounded by were technicians; people who understood the hardware, how it worked, and how to troubleshoot it.  Ms. Hopper understood the hardware, but what she really cared about was the software.  On several occasions during that conversation, she encouraged me to get serious about learning how to program if I wanted to pursue a career in computers.  When I asked her how one might go about doing that, she said “Just practice.  Write programs, for anything.  Do it over and over until you're happy with the result.  You might consider going to college when you get out of the Navy, but what really matters is to practice.”

If I could choose one moment that started my career in programming, that would be it.  I didn't immediately stop working on hardware, though – I continued to work extensively in hardware design for more than 10 years after that.  But I did start seriously investigating programming immediately following that meeting with her.  I've never stopped.

I never had the privilege of talking with Ms. Hopper again.  About a week after I met her, someone at the school clued me in a bit on her career, and I read a book about her (in which I discovered how she started the use of the word "bug" to describe a software problem!).  After the fact I was awed that she actually sat down and talked with me for an hour or so.  I'm glad I didn't know about that when she walked up to me – I'd have been terrified!  Most especially, though, I'd have enjoyed a followup conversation, and especially the opportunity to thank her for her good advice and inspiration to me.

So perhaps you'll understand now why I found this video of Grace Hopper to be quite a trip down memory lane...

Old Maps...

A large collection of old maps is up online, and you can explore it for free.  Within a few minutes I was able to find the map from 1888 at right (click to enlarge), which shows the area around where I grew up, just south of Robbinsville.  Of course there isn't complete coverage of every area, but if you browse through their collection you'll find that a surprising part of the globe is covered.

Kudos to the folks at the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection for a beautiful example of applying modern technology to the challenge of making such a fine collection publicly accessible...

Saving a Whale...

A great little film passed along by reader Simi L.:

TSA: Fail...

A former FBI counter-terrorism agent articulates what's wrong with the TSA's security theater...

I think the solution is simple: disband it.  The organization has spent billions of dollars with no discernable effect other than to piss off a whole bunch of citizens.  It's long past time for it to go...

Feynman Talks...

A nice collection of Richard Feynman talks...

Species Rescue...

It sounds almost like a bad sci-fi novel: rats wipe out an interesting species on a large island, but years later scientists discover a tiny population surviving on a desert island.  After two years of effort they get permission to take four individuals to attempt captive breeding.  The first two individuals taken die shortly after leaving the island.  The second two (dubbed “Adam” and “Eve”) nearly die, but a last-ditch, guessed-at food supplement revives them.  Not long after: now we have thousands of descendants of Adam and Eve.  And now they'd like to reintroduce them back to the island where the rats killed them all.  Fascinating story!  Here's video of one of the these animals hatching – it's a giant walking stick insect:

Icy Fingers of Death...

Super-chilled brine flowing into merely cold seawater forms ice in the lower-salinity water. This time-lapse film captures this, along with the slow-moving sea life that the ice overcomes. This little clip and the accompanying story are the first I've ever heard of this strange natural phenomenon...