I sure you two are wondering

Why in the world I posted a Warn logo on my blog. Well here is your answer. A bunch of my previous co-workers invited me to join a fantasy football league. Mostly I think they just want to take my money but whatever. Anyway since they all work at the same place I chose to show my colors and name my team Big Red W. The ESPN fantasy football setup will let you use a custom logo posted anywhere on the internet. I pointed it to the logo at Warn.com but it automatically stretches the logo to 200x170 pixels. I couldn't have a distort W to represent me and my team so I edited the logo making it exactly 200x170 so that it would look right. Then all I needed to do was to get it on the internet and it is pretty bloody obvious how I accomplished that!

One day I was riding my old cruiser motorcycle eating my pop tart on my way to see my beloved didgeridoo when all of a sudden...

I need Coments

The imaginative side of my brain has slowed. I need some new, fresh ideas to write about in this blog. Help me out. Post comments on any random subject that might be interesting and I'll write about.

Technological Dependancy.

Sometimes I'd like to believe that our society is not completely reliant on computers and the like but at work on Wednesday I was proven wrong. It wasn't that my computer crashed nor did anyone else's but the local network went down. We could still use the internet but anything local was unavailable. Doesn't really seem like to big of a deal until you realize that the program to do your afternoons work uses shared licenses. Without access to the local network such programs will not work leaving a large number of engineers without their chief tool.

It was a little difficult to find something else to do that did not involve the use of the network. Every task I had lined out for the day had one component or another that used the network. So what did I do? I went back to the old fashioned way and did some hand drafting to figure out some key dimensions so that I could at least make the 3d solid modeling go faster when the network got back up.

Fortunately the connection got back up before Thursday and we were hindered no longer but it was a wake up call. Just how much productivity was lost for those 5 hours that the network was down? I don't know but just from looking around I'd say everyone's dropped about 35-50%. Technology keeps things moving faster, that is it's primary purpose, get more done in less time so that you have more time to get even more done.

Oh and here is something really funny. A secretary wrote an email telling eveyone that the we were having network problems directly after the problem started. What is funny about this is that since the network wasn't working the email remained in the outbox until it came back online then sent everyone that email that it was down. In her defense she also made an annoucement over the PA system. I wonder though if she wrote the email before or after she made the annoucement.

Been A While

When a conversation hits one of those quiet moments where no one can think of what to say I think the silence is best broken but some random, stupid question.

Here is one to break my silence over the pasts few weeks: Why can you turn the dryer setting knob backward but not the washer knob? Please comment if you know or have a suggestion.

The reason for my silence is this: amongst moving and starting a new job, I am also taking two online Synthesis classes that require a considerable amount of writing so my energies are being diverted for a time.

Intuition, Mine is not always right.

I have been told that I am a good test taker and for the first two years of my college career this was quite true. I attribute much of my success in this area to my good intuition, that is to say that the first way I think of to solve a problem is usually the right way. This has been becoming less and less true however much to my dismay, culminating in a disaster this past week.

My intuition is built by passed experience. If it worked before it ought to work now, right? This is why doing all of one's homework is very important. It builds the intuition necessary to perform well in a similar situation. However the intuition gained by doing Heat Transfer homework is not always applicable on a Thermodynamics test. Some of it may be but some of it will definitely lead you down the wrong path.

The previously mentioned disaster is not at all school related but the principles are the same. I am an avid four-wheeler and motorcycle rider. One of my favorite things to do with them is climb steep hills. In the event that I do not make it up a steep hill the failsafe to keep it from flipping over and rolling down the hill is as follows:

1. Grab the front brake and allow the engine to die.
2. Jump off the bike while holding the brake.
3. Hold the bike in a upright position and carefully turn it around.

Most of the time this sequence works perfectly at not flipping over, keeping the bike stopped and not sliding backwards down the hill. The last things you want to do is to stay on the bike and rev up the engine because this will almost certainly cause your back tire(s) to grip the steep terrain and flip you completely over.

Snowmobiles, mind you, are far different.

This past week I got the privilege of snowmobiling with a good friend of mine. To cut to the quick at one point in the day we were traversing a short but steep hill. The hill got quite steep toward the top and the sled I was running did not have the traction to get me to the top. I passed the point of no return (the speed at which I would still be able to turn the snowmobile completely around without stopping on the side hill and rolling over) because it looked as if I would make it. When I slowed to a stop my intuition took over the situation. I let go of the throttle grabbed the brake and was contemplating jumping off when the most surprising thing happened. The snowmobile started to quickly slide backwards down the hill! I tried to ride it out but at one point the front skis turned hurling me off and sending the sled rolling.

So my intuition failed me in how to react to "not making it" up a steep hill on a snowmobile because I applied the wrong basis to the situation. Snowmobiles don't react the same as 4-wheelers when you "don't make it."

However after you "don't make it" they react exactly the same. They come after you with a vengeance. There is still a Me-shaped indent up there where the sled pounded me into the snow on its way to the bottom of the hill. Damages to me were inconsequential but the snowmobile's windshield cracked in several places (I have ordered a replacement).

As it turns out the right way to handle this situation would have been to the last thing that I would do on a 4-wheeler. That is to spin the track until it buries itself in snow making it impossible to slide backward. Snowmobiles, because the are very long end to end, are very unlikely to flip end to end on a hill, even a very steep one, whereas 4-wheelers might flip even if you follow the directions prescribed above.

The lesson here is valuable. It is good for me to realize that my first instinct is not always right. I should explore other options before I commit. As a hope-to-be-soon Engineer I need to have good intuition but I should never stick to my first thought as though it were the only option available. Fortunately for me in a workplace environment I will have more than 19 milliseconds to make a decision on how to proceed unlike the snowmobile incident where instinct took over because I did not have time to think.

Points to Ponder

"When will wars really stop in the world's history? As soon as a new ideal of education is realised. What is this new ideal of education which makes for peace? I will give it in one word: Panhumanism. This word includes all I wish to say.

Individualism means a brick, Panhumanism means a building. Even the greatest individuality (may it be Cæsar, or Raphael, or Luther) is no more than a brick in the panhuman building of history. The lives of individuals are only the points, whereas the life of mankind is a form, a deep, high and large form.

If a great and original individuality were the aim of history, I think history should stop with the first man upon earth.
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Only a good man is a great man to me, who is conscious that he is a cell in the panhuman organism, or a brick in the building of human history. Such a man is more a man of truth and of the future than any conqueror, who thinks that a hundred millions of people and hundreds of years have waited just for him and his guidance, his work, or his wisdom."


Nikolai Velimirovic 1916 Address to the League of the Empire


Although I don't agree with much of what Nikolai is saying, the point he brings out is truer today than it was then. We are currently seeing the effects of a problem he recognised early in the 20th Century. People living by the "What is best for me?" attitude without giving a single thought to the effect it may have on others.

Anything anyone does has a far reaching effect. To err on the side of caution a person ought to be more concerned with the question "What is best for humanity overall?" rather than "What is best for me now?" To fall too far onto that side of the fence however removes all individualism to the point where any single life is unimportant but only the whole is important.

One should not wholly deprive themself in hopes that the lives of everyone else may be made better, however one must always be cognitive of the fact that they aren't the only person on this planet and their actions, good or evil, effect not only everyone around them but also future generations.

Thought of the Day

If your age exceeds your intellegence level, you are either really old or really dumb.

What is wrong with Education?

Today one of my favorite instructors was disallowed to teach the class I am currently taking from him next term. Why? Because some self-indulged students whined and moaned in just the right way to get this result. They submitted a petition citing areas that had caused them offense and said this made him an ineffective teacher. The thing is that they really don't care about the issues they brought up they just needed something they could use because they do not like the instructor because he is hard.

I think they honestly believe that they should be given an Engineering Degree based the fact they think they are capable and not based on their performance as Engineering students.

Performance is how a student is to be measured however in the modern society there is a larger focus on how a person feels about how well they do than on what their actual performance is. This is crippling our education system such that you get the type of people that when they are confronted with their poor performance (i.e. after a Thermodynamics Mid-term) they immediately place the blame on someone else, namely the instructor. After all they did the best that they could and that should always be good enough,right? Wrong!

Even though college is better at preparing people for the real world than high school it is still lacking in that people are granted their wishes by complaining. I console myself in the fact that after these students get out into the real world and tell their boss that their work is too hard and that it should be made easier the boss will reply "You want an easier job? Go work at McDonald's. Your Fired!"

The cruel business world is based on money and how much of it a person is worth, thus a person's performance is all that matters and those who can't perform will be cut out and put in an occupation where they can perform.

Sometimes I hate Irony.

A few of the funniest things ever are the results of some cruel Irony, however sometimes irony just plain pisses me off.

This morning (the morning directly after I posted my "I'm ready for Summer" pic) I woke up to find it snowing outside. Err...

I don't mind snow if it is not so wet and nasty. Oh well, it's all gone now but the Irony was a bit painful. Now I'm more ready for summer than I was yesterday.

I'm ready for summer. Need.. must have... sun.. wakeboard.

A Cause for Cleanliness

A couple days ago I was at a friend's place which is almost always in sore disarray. There are always empty beer bottles and pop cans left everywhere. Herein is the entertaining part of this story. One of the occupants of the apartment got home from work and popped open a Budweiser and sat down on the couch. (Note: most of the empty, or almost empty, beer bottles sitting around are Budweiser bottles) When about two thirds of the way finished with his beer he set it down on the cluttered end table beside him to do something with his handheld computer. A few fateful moments later he grabs a beer bottle off the end table and takes a swig. The look of disgust on his face was priceless when he realized he had filled his mouth with an unfinished beer that had been open for who-knows how long.

That is a Cause for Cleanliness.

Relativity and Absolutism

Without delving into any of Einstein's Theories, I will attempt to gauge the importance of these two ideas with respect to particular everyday occurrences.

First definitions are needed:

Relativity: how characteristics of one thing compare to those of its particular, limited surroundings.

Absolutism: how characteristics of one thing compare to the accepted universal standard.

The definition for Absolutism is definitely open for scrutiny. I am certain someone out there is asking "Yes, but what is 'the accepted universal standard?'" Let me offer a personal example that is sure to satisfy even the most skeptical of critics (please note the sarcasm in my voice).

The last two times I played cribbage with my parents I lost. The manner in which I lost both times really disgruntled me. I lost when I had enough points to reach the finish mark but because of a rule that my parents had been playing by I did not get to count those points. "The order of counting starts with the person who had had the last crib." This is the person to the right of the dealer. When that person (my mother) had counted her points, her peg reached the 120 point goal (again both games). Thereby my points were of no avail.

I never fully trusted the rule they had been playing by mainly because my parents are old and don't remember things correctly every time. I sought to find the official rule for this situation. A Google search brought me to the website of the American Cribbage Congress which did not speak to the matter of three player crib counting order so I emailed the Ethics Committee Chairman and he responded by saying that the person to the LEFT of the dealer gets to count first. That would have been me!

Thus, absolutely, I won both games because the accepted universal standard states that I should have counted first, however when I sat down to play I was fully cognitive of their rule. Therefore, relatively speaking, I lost because of the particular, limited surroundings I was in.

I personally prefer absolutism, not simply because I would have won, but because a universal standard has more lasting value.

A changed perspective.

Over the years everyone's outlook changes with respect to physical sizes of objects or the distance between landmarks. For instance, when I was between 4 and 5 years old we lived in a little house that had a picket fence which I thought was very tall. If asked today how tall I thought that fence was I would suggest that it was a 6 foot tall fence. It was only 4 feet tall. My memory of the fence height relative to my height has remained constant thus the fence being above my eye level would make it six feet tall.

Growing taller is not the only factor that effects this change in perspective. My mom was riding through the campus of the university she attended when she was younger (consequently it is the same school I attend) at noted that Memorial Union Quad (grassy area between some buildings) looked much smaller than when she attended here over 20 years ago. She is the same height now as she was then but she noticed a definate difference in the size she remembered it being.

Why the change?

My suggestion is the following: Her perspective changed not in physical stature but in scenerio. Twenty some odd years ago she would have been walking across the Quad on a cold, windy, and wet winter day which would make the distance across the field seem much further than if you are sitting in a van driving along in a comfortable, climate controlled environment.

Consumer Marketing: The Cool Factor

What is with the world's fascination with "High Tech Materials"? My dad told me about a new set of wrenches from Craftsman which are made of Titanium. I thought "What stupid person will buy those?" Then I realized that hundreds of uneducated mechanics will be all upon those wrenches just to impress their buddies.

The main problem with them (aside from the price) is that Titanium is NOT as strong as steel. The misconception that modern tool market has created is that Titanium is some kind of magic material that is lighter and stronger than steel. Ti is lighter but not close to as strong. Titanium has a yield strength of 140 Megapascals whereas a highcarbon steel (wrench making materials) yeilds at 427 Megapascals. This means the Steel wrenches can take a load that is 3 times higher than the Ti wrenches can take before failing.

So why would someone pay over twice as much for something that is only 1/3 as good?

Cause Titanium is cool.

Upon my own examination of the Craftsman add I found that the wrenches are not in fact made of Titanium (good thing too) but merely have a Ti FINISH. Which brings me to my next question: Why buy the same set of wrenches for twice the price?

So I've joined the latest fad on the internet. Blogging. It's cool I guess. Not like anyone is going to read my crap anyway, except people that know me. I guess that's why it's cool. You can say whatever's on your mind and friends can read it whenever they feel like it, which, in this case if they are lucky, is never. I think if my friends knew what was on my mind it'd bore them to tears, so I'll keep this blog to only things that might interest 0.937% of the total population.

After a long day