Friends
May. 14th, 2008
09:58 am - actual quote from a conversation outside my office
"Well, let's make a list of things that came alive after being struck by lightning."
May. 13th, 2008
07:20 pm - Architecture building at my university collapsed in a fire
This is surreal. The building that I looked at for many years sitting in my office on the 14th floor of the EE building is no more. A short-circuit caused a major fire, ending in the partial collapse of the building. Many of my architecture college friends went to college in that building.
Here's the view from the 14th floor (it's the building on the right):
This is a video of the building's collapse:
10:26 pm - not even wrong russian
Amy and I watched a movie on DVD yesterday and the first menu on the DVD was a language selection choice. Something struck me as odd about the list though:
The choice in the lower right is supposed to represent Russian. In the Cyrillic script, Russian is actually written Русский (transliterated as "Russkiy"). The last two letters are ИЙ in upper case and ий in lower case. The weird mirror-image Roman n must have been the result of somebody trying desperately to bash Cyrillic letters into a Roman character set. I can't imagine a system that would render text like that by default, so they must have gone to some manual effort to specifically mirror the n. Madness!
The other letter shapes are all wrong too, especially the k which shouldn't have an ascender.
Anyway, I thought it was amusing. I'll forgive you if you don't.
May. 12th, 2008
01:06 am - Das Glasperlenspiel de Hermann Hesse
longa spertaro
kies fino surprize
melankolias
11:46 pm - Free basketball backboard hoop
Any local Austinites interested in an old basketball backboard hoop with chain net? You'll just need to install some kind of permanent vertical post in your ground someplace, and then you can mount this backboard to it.
Cowhouse came with one installed in the front driveway, but I have no use for it so I took it down.
I'll probably post this on Craigslist in a few days if no one's interested, but I wanted to give the people who know me a chance to claim it first.
11:39 am - hailstorm
I've been home sick with a cold all weekend. Yesterday morning it was bright and sunny and I was grumbling about how it always seems to be nice weather outside when I'm feeling under the weather inside. A friend who was out for a walk stopped by for a cup of tea. Just minutes after she left, I heard some raindrops on the roof. It quickly got stronger, and suddenly exploded into a full-blown downpour mixed with pea-sized hail. Amy jumped in the car to go find our friend (who we knew didn't have a hat or umbrella with her) and gave her a ride the rest of the way home.
Later on I looked back at my temperature logger for the day:
That's a sudden drop from about 14°C (57°F) to 8°C (46°F) in a matter of minutes. The surprising thing was how quickly the temperature recovered after the storm cloud passed over. If you remove the section from 12pm to 2pm, it's as though the storm never happened!
May. 10th, 2008
06:39 pm - Armadillo Hill Country Classic 2008 ride report.
Lots to say, but a vast majority of it isn't all that interesting, so I'll try to ( sum up )
04:14 pm - world population milestone
We passed a milestone of sorts today:
Many of the problems the world has today (hunger, climate change, peak oil) are a direct result of the increasing population of this planet. Over six and a half billion humans certainly can make a difference to the planet's health, and it's going to get worse before it gets better. The Wikipedia article on World population has many interesting facts and figures about how the population of the Earth is changing.
The good news is that the rate of growth peaked in the 1950s at about 2.2% annually, and has been steadily dropping since that time. It is now estimated to be about 1.2%. Nevertheless, we will probably reach 9 billion by about 2050.
May. 9th, 2008
07:54 pm - A bit of FLDS background.
This blog, FLDS 101, has been posting new entries once a day or so, providing background and dated quotes on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS).
Some of the blog posts dovetail with Texas authorities' attitude towards the group, for example the entry on Casting Out Evil, or the one on Arranged Marriages.
Overall, the common thread in FLDS 101 seems to pertain to the impact of Warren Jeffs' leadership, portrayed as inflexible and harsh. The chain of leadership that lead to Warren Jeffs also draws that blogger's critical attention. The WSJ dated quotes are from Warren Jeffs; LSJ are from LeRoy Johnson, a previous leader/Prophet.
Stepping outside that blog for a moment, consider that Texas CPS took hundreds of children into custody. In contrast, Warren Jeffs has been widely reported to have excommunicated church elders and reassigned their wives to men whom he felt were more deserving. Those wives moved with all their children, which may arguably be considered not entirely unlike Texas' actions, with fathers losing family & home under Jeffs' leadership, and mothers losing family by Texas' actions.
The Salt Lake Tribune, among other sources, reported on 21 excommunicated men (in one 2004 event). This Canadian paper reports that Jeffs reassigned over 100 families over the years, sometimes reassigning a wife more than once. The Denver Post reports that Warren Jeffs excommunicated some 300 men (not counting lost boys) & reassigned the wives of those men. Gary Engles, investigator for Mohave, Arizona county attorney's office, also estimates that more than 300 men have been excommunicated under Warren Jeffs rule.
Three hundred might be high, but if it's even one hundred men, how many children would that have displaced? Hundreds? I have not seen any denials that Jeffs reassigned many families. Please let me know if you have seen such?
The good news for the children in Texas is that ALL EYES are on them, now. The bad news for the men excommunicated by Jeffs (and their loss of family) is that their story remains largely under wraps.
Current FLDS members who might feel Jeffs has done damage to the faith comparable to Texas' impact would, I suspect, even with Warren Jeffs in jail, hesitate to put their name on such an opinion, since Jeffs retains at least enough influence to have had his photograph all over the walls in buildings at the Yearning for Zion ranch. His highest ranking followers, like Willie and Merrill Jessop, have been the men who get mentioned in news references to the Texas raid. I have not heard of any new FLDS Prophet being named to replace Jeffs as Prophet.
Back to the FLDS 101 blog. Potentially balancing out those darker blog posts, entries also cover what draws people to the Faith & what keeps them voluntarily enthusiastic about belonging, such as the entry on Good Memories.
Some of the information I've read elsewhere indicates that FLDS members do not celebrate Easter, which "should" have clued investigators into suspecting that the caller who inspired the raid was not a legitimate FLDS member, since she mentioned Easter in her call as a reference date.
This lack of Easter celebration is contradicted by the FLDS 101's claim that in 2007, while Warren Jeffs was in prison (he still is), the Colorado City/Hildale area FLDS members celebrated a well attended Easter festival, with easter egg hunts, barbecue, and renewed access to the zoo that Warren Jeffs closed. The same Easter event was also reported in this polygamy blog. So, Warren Jeffs' devoted followers may not celebrate Easter, but that does not necessarily extend to all (non-excommunicated) FLDS members, and may be a relatively recent development.
Just wanted to share this, as many on my friends list are researching this group lately, and additional information may be helpful in greater understanding of this relatively mysterious group.
May. 8th, 2008
11:17 pm - Directs & Retrogrades
For those who care to keep track of this stuff, Saturn just went direct on the 2nd, Jupitder goes retrograde tomorrow, and Mercury will be going retrograde on the 26th.
10:14 am - Chaos
For those of you who think English pronunciation is easy or logical, I present to you this poem "The Chaos" by Dutch writer, traveler and teacher Dr Gerard Nolst Trenité from 1920.
An excerpt:
Dearest creature in creation
Studying English pronunciation,
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse.
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say: finger;
Then say: singer, ginger, linger.
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, age
A review of the poem notes: Readers will notice that The Chaos is written from the viewpoint of the foreign learner of English: it is not so much the spelling as such that is lamented, as the fact that the poor learner can never tell how to pronounce words encountered in writing (the poem was, after all, appended to a book of pronunciation exercises). With English today the prime language of international communication, this unpredictability of symbol-sound correspond-ence constitutes no less of a problem than the unpredictability of sound-symbol correspondence which is so bewailed by native speakers of English. Nevertheless, many native English-speaking readers will find the poem a revelation: the juxtaposition of so many differently pronounced parallel spellings brings home the sheer illogicality of the writing system in countless instances that such readers may have never previously noticed.
So be sure to read the full poem and the review!
07:54 pm - antiphonetic alphabet
The Antiphonetic Alphabet is sort of like the Phonetic Alphabet, only more confusing. Perhaps this should be called anacrophonic (see Acrophony).
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May. 7th, 2008
08:13 am - tl;dr: I won my class by 1.9 seconds
So, those "more details" about the autocross...
I drove up to Fort Worth Friday. I managed to arrive in time to get the car tech inspected and get a few "test and tune" runs in. I didn't really properly tune the car on the test and tune runs - that's still an area where I have a great deal to learn - but I still appreciated the chance to drive on the surface and get at least a bit of a feel for the lot. By the time I was heading off for the tech inspection, my codriver (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
greengalnblack) had arrived. She introduced me to some of her friends, we checked in with registration, etc., etc. Friday evening was Friday evening, hanging out with the Spokes group. As the sun set, greengalnblack and I realized we were going to have to head out if we expected to go to bed at a decent hour, and since we ran first heat, we wanted to go to bed at a decent hour. She brought me to my grandmother's and headed off to her place to stay.
In the morning, greengalnblack was running late. Me being me, however, I had planned in some extra time for "just in case," so this wasn't a huge negative. We made it to the site and found everything pretty much as we left it, which left us plenty of time. We walked the course one final time, checked grid spots, and brought the car around to grid. I actually managed to put the car in the wrong place, but the grid workers preferred where I put the car, so we left it there. It was cold - the temps weren't all that low, but the constant strong breeze meant any heat was blown away. greengalnblack made her first run and came back with tires only barely warm. It wasn't long before I was out for my first run. Though things were slick, the car was well behaved, and I instantly vaulted myself into the lead. I had a second over Iain Peebles in Chris's MX-5. But, as far as I knew, that was Iain's first drive in that car, ever, so there was potential for him to gain a lot of time through the three runs. Iain essentially matched the time of my first run in his second, but I knocked .8 off for my second run, putting myself back into the lead. On Iain's third run, a cone got in the way, so I found myself going into my third run already in the lead. With the pressure off and my third run just a "widen the gap for tomorrow" run, I knocked another .8 seconds off, and gave myself a 1.67 second lead going into day two.
Through all of this, greengalnblack, Iain, and I traded teasing and good-natured insults. We gathered for lunch with a few of their friends, and then made our way back to the site to work third heat. I spent third heat in the sun, having forgotten to apply sunblock, and got myself a bit of a burn on my face. The rest of the day went well enough, with event-provided BBQ for dinner, and chances to walk the course after.greengalnblack had me drive her S2000 on the way to my grandmother's this evening. That car is a blast. It definitely needs to rev to find its power, but once you reach around 6500rpm, it's a kick in the pants. As an S2000, it revs up to 9000rpm, so there's still plenty of room to play. It handled well, and it was easy to control that power through corners, even on the bumpy streets leading up to my grandmother's. That car definitely needs to find its way into an autocross, even if it'll be stuck in a class where it's not competitive.
Sunday morning, remembering the chills of Saturday morning, I put on every clean shirt I had left. That meant three fairly small shirts and a sweatshirt. The breeze, however, was gone, so it didn't feel nearly as cold. I ended up shedding layers quickly and early, shedding one or two before any cars even started running! My performance this morning was... Less than stellar. On my first run, my brain just hadn't engaged yet and I wasn't looking ahead. I got lost on course TWICE! I didn't hit any cones or DNF, but I did end up with some rather boneheaded slam-on-the-brakes moments. Iain's raw time on his first run this morning was faster than mine by a second, but he hit a cone. My second run would have made up just over two seconds (not getting lost is GOOD!), but I had hit an early cone, adding two seconds to the run! Iain had hit a cone on his second run, as well, though so I was still in the lead. But on Iain's third run, he ran clean. That time left him with a 107.mumble over the two days, which matched the 107.mumble that I'd had. Neither of us were sure what our .mumbles were, so I went into my third run not sure if I was winning or not. I knew "a clean run" would win it for me, though, even if it was fairly slow, so I took a nice little Sunday drive around the course. "Don't hit anything and don't get lost" were my goals, and I managed that. The raw time was about a third of a second slower than my coned run, but since a cone adds two seconds, it was a great improvement in my standing. I ended up winning my class by over 1.9 seconds.
After everyone else got to run that day, awards were presented. Spokes had done rather well, so many of us ended up walking up to get trophies. I tore out of there quickly after the presentation was over, eager to get home, unload the trailer, and find a few minutes to relax.
Overall, it was a great weekend spent with fun people, driving a wonderful car. I'm eager for the H2R autocross this weekend, and I need to get my tires and contingency money!
07:22 pm - boutique job posting boards
I'm looking for a list of, for lack of a better word, "boutique" job posting boards. I've already got jobs.joelonsoftware.com and jobs.thedailywtf.com (which seems a bit weak, as it appears to just syndicate job listings from hiddennetwork.com). There are also larger networks like Linkedin, which end up with a more targeted audience. What others do you know of?
May. 5th, 2008
10:05 pm - San Antonio Missions Urban Bike Ride
07:29 pm - My weekend: doubleplusfun
Was lots of this:
Concluded by this.
May. 4th, 2008
11:17 pm - 3rd Fastest
At the current rate of growth, the U.S. population will grow to 400 million around 2040.
The rapid growth, which makes America the third fastest growing nation in the world behind China and India, is due primarily to immigration and the offspring of immigrants. Those two groups account for more than two-thirds of the country's entire population growth.
11:07 pm - Ron Paul: Not ready to endorse McCain,
Instead, Paul favors Sen. Barack Obama because of positions on foreign policy. “But that’s doesn’t mean that’s an endorsement,” Paul quickly added.
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