Sarah Who? Sarah Awesome?

Wow, I got busy at work and missed the most interesting thing to happen in this election so far: John McCain picking a really cool VP. Seriously, the more I hear about Sarah Palin, the more excited I am about this election. Suddenly McCain went from to "At least (hopefully maybe) better than the alternative" to "Nice Work Dude!".

Besides, I like to base all my political decisions on Chuck-Norris-esque lists of cool facts. I'm certain all voters should do the same....

The deal-breaker for me:
"Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin will give birth to the man who will lead humanity’s war against the machines." SOLD!

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Supremely Bad Ideas in Engineering

Via Rand Simberg, I came across this NasaWatch post where a NASA employee's farewall email was posted. Reading the comments was mind-boggling. NASA doesn't have an integrated CAD/PDM system?! How is that even possible? I mean my company has three major design locations in North America and we manage to have a pretty good system for tracking CAD changes and design modifications. Still, my company designs seatbelts & airbags with usually less than 100 parts. How on earth can you design a spacecraft with thousands or millions of parts without integrated CAD/PDM? With all the NASA locations how does anyone know what anyone else is doing?

The grumbling about which CAD program to use is much more understandable. Engineers hate changing the way they work for any reason. If it's a good change, they'll come around eventually. If it's a bad change, you will never hear the end of it. Switching platforms midstream is a pain but I don't think it's as big of a deal as the fact that NASA locations have no way to integrate their design data. Please tell me they at least have a decent intra-NASA file-sharing network.....Anyone?

Needless to say, I'm going to work with a newfound appreciation for my company's CAD standards.

Link to full post.

Songbird v0.7

After giving it about a few days, I have generally good things to say about the recent update to Songbird. The only major problem I’ve had with it is the usual beta-upgrade problem: most of my add-ons are glitchy with v0.7. However, as the add-on creators update their bits of programming, I can expect that to go away. Also, I had a little difficulty restarting the Last.FM connection to scrobble my songs. The issue was easily fixed by logging out and then back in (which sadly didn't occur to me until today - I read all those bug reports for nothing). So all is working now.

One little nonfunctional annoyance....

Songbird is really only stable in the new default theme right now. Which clashes horribly with my desktop of purple & black. This must be seen to...when I have the time.

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Spending the Summer Inside

Instead of being outside enjoying the last of the hundred degree weather or pouring down rain (HA!), I’ve spent the remainder of my summer in front of my TV. I recently watched:

“The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep” which was a pretty good family film in a restrained British way. Everyone was good, the CGI creature was very believable. And the script threw in a a little bit of conflict in the form of a priggish British officer. Not a bad way to spend a couple hours.

“Lars & The Real Girl” I watched this with my mother and although it’s odd, it is also a very good movie. Given the premise, there’s surprisingly little crude humor. The overall tone is quite sweet. Ryan Gosling does a wonderful job as the painfully shy “Lars”. Heck, everyone’s really good in this. Also, they do a remarkable job selling “Bianca” as a real person. When they got to her funeral, I was a lot more affected than I expected to be. All in all, this is an interesting premise executed very well.

“Chaos Theory” This was a impulse buy based on a trailer I’d recently seen. Amusing movie with quite a few twists. They did a nice little bit of past/future framing for the story. Ryan Reynolds was hilarious and moving as the main character. A funny movie about surprises and forgiveness in families. Not bad for a whim purchase.

“Resident Evil: Apocalypse" Caught this on Sci-Fi channel last night. I could not get through the first movie at all but this one was a lot better. The action better and the main character a lot more watchable. I did especially like how they tied on with the ending of the first movie in an emotionally effective manner. The only annoying thong was Sci-Fi's terribly ineffective bleeping-out of the expletives. Seriously, who does the FCC think they are kidding when they do this? Aside from that, I found this one good zombie fun (and a great juxtaposition when I was flipping between this and the closing ceremonies of the Olympics).

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Stereo Decision Making

Last weekend, I was in Best Buy looking for a cable to plug my MP3 player directly into my stereo. After some bad advice and $15 I’ll never get back, my dad finally found us the Y-cable we both needed. Having now used the cable a week, I’ve got to wonder....

Item A: Stereo with MP3 Player Dock = $80 MIN

versus

Item B: Y-Cable to Plug into Current Stereo = $7

Why do so many people go for Item A when B is cheaper and just as good sound-wise? Aside from the cool visual of an MP3 player plugged in, what do you get out of this that justifies $70+ dollars more? *is sorta baffled*

Although, I'll probably be buying this sucker soon as my 20GB MP3 player is currently at 19GB of used space.

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Failblog is Addictive....

Someone's read "The Cask of Amontillado" one too many times.....
via here (don't click if you expect to get anything productive done for about two hours)

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Better Things To Do

Than blog. Like working. But I did managed to snap a very Texas sight while on vacation last weekend:

An oil rig in the early morning

From my fishing trip that didn't happen (Lightening + Boating = Masochism Beyond My Ken)

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Like They're MindReaders Or Something

That would be the creators of this list of, "You Might Be A Fan If..."

Particularly pertinent ones:
- You own CDs because you first heard the songs in a fanvid and liked them.
- You giggled when Serenity showed up briefly on BSG. (actually, I may have clapped)
- You are incapable of hearing, reading or speaking the word "inconceivable" without quoting "The Princess Bride."
- You can't help but think LEGO anything is automatically more cool.

Although compared to some of the other items listed....I feel remarkably ungeeky right now.

Link to full post.

Pattern Backlog

With all my running around for work and real-life, I've come across several interesting and eye-burning patterns lately. Here they are for your snark & enjoyment.

Teaser: Hallway carpet, hotel in Michigan

Well, this would wake me up in the morning.

Also while in Michigan, I came across yet another example of "Carpets I firmly believe are used in Rainbow Brite's House":

The office up there had tons of chairs covered in these geometric prints. Most of them didn't photograph well. An exception is this lovely print:
Which I call "Attack Of The Colored Blobs"

Back in San Antonio, I noticed the upholstery at one of my regular restaurants.
It's like a cubist's calligraphy sketchpad.

At another takeout place, they were making repairs. Instead of hanging clear plastic to block of the area, they'd built a little plywood enclosure covered with this cloth:
(sings off-key)
Rock a bye baby
In the treetop
When the bough breaks
Cradle will fall
(ends singing)

We've had several visitors from Japan recently, who brought gifts. I got a lovely embroidered coaster and a towel: I'm somewhat tempted to taking this fishing with me. Don't know why....

While shopping for a gift in Target, I came across another example of a pattern making a comeback:
Personally, I don't know what's so attractive about glittery paramecium.

Link to full post.

Trout Eating Zombies!!!

OR Reasons Why You Should be Watching “The Middleman”
(Monday Nights @9pm on ABCFamily)

Monday nights this summer have been an unexpected treat for me. Because in mid-July I discovered ABC Family’s “The Middleman”. Unfortunately, not enough other people have made the same discovery. Which is a shame because this is such a smart, funny show. So, in an effort to utilize my little Blogger soapbox for some good, here are some reasons why you should be tuning in…..

9) PSA Announcements from your friendly neighborhood superhero team.


8) With villains like alien-dictator boy bands, lucha libre wrestler gangs and trout eating zombies, who can resist watching? Seriously if you need more than "trout eating zombies", please leave my weblog immediately.

7) Come for the wacky villains, stay for the wacky catchphrases! In an effort to avoid swearing, the title character utilizes other means to express himself, including such gems as "Flowers for Algernon!", "Holy Onions!" and "Great hearts of palm that is grotesque!" (For more go here)

6) ART CRAWL! (thanks TWOP!)

5) Techno-bablble for very non-technical persons. For example,
A "HEYDAR" is
In technical terms: Global analysis and information gathering device capable of preforming onboard evidence analysis as well as universal intelligence searches across all data platforms.
In non-technical terms: It’s a big silver ball that gives us answers to things

4) The scene which sold me on the show - The milk interrogation in the first episode.
To paraphrase “just because you’re a good guy doesn’t mean you have to be a fool.”

3) You have to pay attention. Or you miss the running gags like different timezones in the time/place captions during the 3rd episode. My favorite was "9:50 PM Mitteleuropaische Sommerz". Or that episode with all the "Back to the Future" references.

2) For a show with trout eating zombies, they have a pretty good habit of showing the consequences of actions and giving those consequences emotional weight. Examples include: A confrontational performance artist has to learn how to follow her art without getting arrested because no one wants to hire someone with a record. People who’ve known you for years won’t be easily fooled by the usual cover stories (1000+ bonus pts for that alone).

1) (Totally a personal opinion) Isn't Matt Knessler reason enough?


The not-so-secret goal of this post is to have at least one person discover my weblog via a web-search for “trout eating zombies”.

Link to full post.

Widmanstatten Patterns

Are they:

a) A German Wallpaper Company

b) A Sociological Phenomenon Used to Predict Traffic Flows

c) A Metal Crystal-form Named After The Guy Who Discovered Them Second

d) A Form of Chocolate Netting Used By European Confectioneries

Click Here for Correct Answer!

(Hint: A common alias for these elusive entities – “The reason I got an ‘A’ in my Materials Engineering lab”)

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On The Left, We Have EPIC FAIL

You know what one of the biggest impediment to freedom in the world is? “Freedom for me but not thee” Syndrome. Case in point is this article (via Instapundit) describing the single worst political idea of 2008, so far. Right or left, it is supremely disgusting and anti-ethical toward the US system of government to harass people for their political beliefs and donations. Which is exactly what these guys intend on doing to people who donate to conservative organizations. From the horse’s mouth:

"Led by Tom Matzzie, a liberal political operative who has been involved with some prominent left-wing efforts in recent years, the newly formed nonprofit group, Accountable America, is planning to confront donors to conservative groups, hoping to create a chilling effect that will dry up contributions......The warning letter is intended as a first step, alerting donors who might be considering giving to right-wing groups to a variety of potential dangers, including legal trouble, public exposure and watchdog groups digging through their lives." (my emphasis added)

Isn’t it comforting to know that certain totalitarian lesson plans haven’t been completely tossed into the dustbin of history? How is it at all acceptable that they are basically attempting to blackmail conservative donors into non-participation? If it's wrong when pro-life groups harass people who donate to pro-choice groups (which I think it is), then why isn't this equally wrong? One of my bigger problems with the Left in general is that for all their talk of compassion and tolerance, too many of the Left’s advocates and followers turn into emotionally unstable bullies at the drop of the rhetorical hat. Supposedly these guys are claiming they're just trying to beat Republicans to the punch...way to take the moral high ground people.

If I gave money to any organization covered by this endeavor*, I’d be doubling my donation right now. Because real-life trolls shouldn’t get away with this kind of BS.

Link to full post.

I'm Not Dead...I've Just Been Reading

To make up for my slacking off earlier in the year, I have been reading books at a breakneck pace. Everything from comics to literary nonfiction. Thanks to this aggressive reading schedule, my “To Read” pile of books has been reduced from almost 40 titles to 17.

See full post for review of 23 works. The breakdown:
2 Comic books
3 Historical Romance Fiction
7 Science Fiction Novels
2 Science Fiction Short Stories
3 Young Adult Novels
1 Mystery/Crime Fiction
1 Autobiography
1 History
2 Science & Technology Nonfiction
1 Opinion/Current Events

“Barnum! IN Secret Service To The USA” by Howard Chaykin & David Tischman. (Comic) What do you get when PT Barnum & his gang of sideshow freaks teemed up with the US Secret Service to save the US from the nefarious schemes of the evil Dr. Nikola Tesla? You’d get this fun and engaging comic book. Great premise, good story and just very amusing.

“From the Hands of Hostile Gods” by Darren R. Hawkins. What a strange wonderful read. A mind bending mystery tale wrapped up in a love story. Set in an isolated outpost on a world being terraformed, the author does a brilliant job conveying the isolation and little social quirks that come with such locations. And when the mystery ramps up into disaster, Hawkins is equally up to the task of writing suspense. This is a good creepy book at a time when I read several bad to so-so creepy books (see below). Definitely worth downloading.

“The Remarkable Worlds of Professor Phineas B. Fuddle” by Boaz & Erek Yakin. (Comic) A lost-in-time absent-minded professor, Victorian London being overwhelmed in temporal paradoxes and two wayward adventurers. Again, ridiculous but wonderful fun.

“The Ghost Map” by Steven Johnson. An account of an 1850s cholera outbreak in London, the investigative aftermath and the historical consequences. A completely riveting book that ties together sociology, epistemology, globalization, urbanization, paradigm shifts in science and other awesome topics. Although I wouldn’t recommend reading it on a sick day (total mistake), it was an excellent book.

“The Sea of Monsters: Percy Jackson & The Olympians – Book 2” by Rick Riordan. The second book in this series is just as good as the first with some emotionally interesting plot twists on the inherent evilness of Cyclops and the Olympian gods’ opinions on redemption for their fallen children. Actually, pretty interesting in that the larger conflict of the series steps up a bit and the book-specific adventure has a really, really great payoff at the end. I will definitely be continuing this series.

“Fairest” by Gail Carson Levine. A fairy tale with a twist. While there are curses & such as expected, this isn't a predictable tale. For all it's fairy-taleness, it is really a story about a young girl coming into her own. Pretty interesting. My only complaint is that after making you hate a character for most of the book, she ends up being a non-entity in the end.

“Life At The Bottom” by Theodore Dalrymple. Dear God what a depressing book! Basically, the book is a bunch of anecdotes and opinions based on years of serving as a medical practitioner in some of Britain’s rougher neighborhoods. If you ever had any doubt that people could do self-destructive and stupid things, this book will cure of that doubt quickly. Sociologically interesting but not exactly enjoyable just for the unrelenting negativity of the subject.

"Mr. Darcy's Daughters", "The Exploits & Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy", & "The Darcy Connection" by Elizabeth Aston. Basically this is published fanfiction set in Austen's “Pride & Prejudice” universe. It follows the daughters of Mr. Darcy & Elizabeth Bennett and their assorted cousins. Definitely quick enjoyable reads if you like Austen.

“Into the Looking Glass” by John Ringo. WHA-HOO. That’s the only fitting description for a book that opens with a 60KT explosion in modern day Florida….and then gets worse (or more exciting depending on your point of view). Very good pulpy military sci-fi with an interesting premise and a breakneck pace. I’m seriously looking forward to the other two books in this series.

“The Creature From Beyond Infinity”, “The Dark World” by Henry Kuttner. The titles aren’t related, just two works by the same author. “Creature” is a typical golden-age sci-fi work with a lot of optimism hiding under its dismal premise. The back & forward story structure is also quite engrossing. Overall, “Creature” was surprisingly enjoyable for a book I read because of its amusing title. “Dark World” is a good deal stranger. It does have a unique approach in that the main character is (one of) the antagonist(s); past a certain point you don’t really feel sorry for what happens to him. I give “Dark” points for being creepy and disorienting, but I still don’t know if I liked it.

“A Strange Manuscript Found In The Copper Cylinder” by James De Mille. Ugh. This is what happens when you combine Jules Verne, a talky-preachy frame story and lots & lots of cannibalism. Based on this book, the reader might develop the mistaken belief that people in the mid-nineteenth century were greatly obsessed with cannibalism and death cults. Seriously, WHAT THE HELL? This is just a weird, gross story that never really became a good story. The mentality of the death cult was academically interesting but that’s really the only good thing I can think of at this point. Yuck.

“Evil Genius” by Catherine Jinks. What would you do if you discovered your psychiatrist was the head henchman for your super-villain-in-jail biological dad? That’s the premise of this wildly entertaining read. Initially, it seems more like a comedy but as the plot progresses, things that were hinted at for laughs now become deadly serious as the main character realizes that maybe, he isn’t really cut out to be a super-villain. Very good read which also has a sequel that sounds interesting.

“The Cosmic Expense Account” by CM Kornbluth. (Short Story) Well, this was different. Sorta a zombie story that combines rational empiricism and questionable publishing ethics (really). It’s amusing but not very engrossing. The best parts are the complete antipathy between the two main characters and the fact that the super-villain is a little old spinster lady.

“The Crystal Egg” by HG Wells. (Short Story) Ever wonder how the aliens in “War of the Worlds” gathered intelligence on humanity before they invaded. This story is your answer. The concept is good but none of the characters really gelled into actual people for me. And the ending is a bit unsatisfying.

“Japan’s Longest Day” by The Pacific War Research Society. This is an absolutely riveting account of the last day before Emperor Hirohito’s announcement to the Japanese people that Japan was surrendering. What’s most amazing by the tale isn’t how close Japan came to fighting on at the behest of their military officers but how many of the officers and other government officials were genuinely offended by the very idea of a coup d’etat. Excellent book for anyone interested in the final days of WWII.

“Hard Corps” by Marco Martinez. The autobiography of how a guy from New Mexico went from gansta teen to Iraq War hero and winner of the Navy Cross. The Marine training was actually harder for me to read than the combat scenes, which seems weird but maybe all those military sci-fi stories have desensitized me or something. Still, very good read even if Martinez comes across a bit too strong sometimes (but honestly, what else am I to expect from a Marine?).

"Magyk: Septimus Heap Book One" by Angie Sage. Sorta like “Harry Potter” lite. A fun read but it dragged a bit in the middle. I did like how it kept you guessing about a couple of plot points while revealing others almost right off. I'll probably check out the others in this series.

“Agent to the Stars” by John Scalzi. Instead of evil insect invaders, Earth gets contacted by very polite aliens who knowing their slime-like forms aren’t appealing to humans decide to hire a Hollywood agent to introduce them to the world. Comedic premise with emotional payoff = Writing gold. Great read with the physical nature and capabilities of the aliens integrating into the story in a hundreds wonderful ways.

“Edison Conquers Mars” by Garrett P. Serviss. Written as a response to HG Wells “War of the Worlds”, it starts just after the great Martian invasion has failed. Thomas Edison & other great scientists of the day reverse engineer & improve the Martian's machines of war and take the battle to Mars. Very engaging and delightfully quaint sci-fi written by someone who apparently accomplished a great many sci-fi firsts even though I'd never heard of him before. A surprisingly fun download.

“Bones to Ashes” by Kathy Reichs. Another great book in the “Temperance Brennan” series that spawned the TV show “Bones” (which I love). The books are very different in tone and set-up but are quite enjoyable in their own right. Reichs has a real talent for creating mysteries with “expected” outcomes that don't payoff in expected ways. Great weekend or travel book (it's no wonder I always find her books in airport bookshops, they make long journeys feel short).

“Breakthrough: From The Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility” by Ted Nordhaus & Michael Shellenberger. Absolutely excellent book on the environmental movement, right & wrong. Although the authors liberal bias is very prevalent, they do present a fair portrayal of both parties’ stances. Their prescriptions for reforming our energy situation are thought-provoking. I found this a hugely interesting read.

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