Fluggart

On Hiatus

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:01:00 +0000

I'm contemplating a few changes here at this site. In the meantime, I'll be on hiatus.

Bose QuietComfort2 Review, Part 6

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:00:00 +0000

This is the final part of a several part review of the Bose QuietComfort2 headphones.

Here is a list of previous review portions:

Part 1: Initial impressions
Part 2: Headphone cord and unit weight
Part 3: Batteries and power light
Part 4: Build quality and airplane adapter
Part 5: Noise-cancellation sensation

In summary, I'm very happy with these headphones (and if I could go back, I would have done it again), but there are a few things that could be improved.

The good:

Minimizes most ambient noise just enough so that you can listen at a regular volume
The earpieces rotate so that the entire unit folds flat
Excellent sound quality
Can use rechargeable AA batteries
Solid build quality
Comes with a long cord
Cord can be disconnected at either end (prevents damage to unit if the cord catches on something)
Comes with an airplane adapter
Clever power indicator light also indicates when the battery is low

The bad:

As with all noise-cancellation headphones, you feel "pressure" on your eardrums while using them
The cord is really long

I put cord length in both the pro and con lists, because it depends on your usage. If you are the type that uses headphones while sitting at a desk or on the couch, you'll love the 6ft cord. If, on the other hand, you're like me and use your headphones while you're moving around, you will find the cord length to be too long (it will get caught on doorknobs, etc).

The list of things that could be improved on the unit are small. If you can get used to the sensation of pressure on your ears while using them, you will enjoy having a pair of these. All in all, I'm very happy with the purchase, and would buy them again.

[Go to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5]

Xubuntu 9.05

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:58:00 +0000

As far as linux goes, I'm a Debian guy. I don't mind poring over obscure text configuration files and doing all of my package management at the command line. That being said, I was intrigued by all of the articles I have seen lately (such as this column by John Dvorak) about how easy Ubuntu is to use and how it's ready for the desktop.

A few weeks ago, I decided to try out Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) -- actually, I'm trying out Xubuntu 9.04 (the version with the XFCE desktop environment). I gave it a shot, but I have to say that I'm disappointed.

Of course, the average person will probably never be able to install linux (just as the average person cannot install Windows from scratch, either). But there are some basic things that a user should be able to handle through the GUI by now. A few years ago, the big problem was with wifi -- how can you really expect someone to compile a custom kernel just to use wifi? Now that they've sorted that out, the major problems are smaller, but just as major.

I have a small FAT32 partition at the beginning of the drive for WinXP. I had the partitioner leave this unchanged, but it rendered WinXP unbootable afterward. I haven't tried the equivalent version of Debian, so I'm not sure where the problem lies.

Ubuntu has a really beautiful GUI for changing configuration settings. There's a nice Windows-like menu for changing resolutions, for instance. Which is great, except that it keeps defaulting to a resolution that doesn't display properly every time I reboot. Why doesn't it save the screen resolution setting? I ended up adding an xrandr line to my ~/.xprofile.

Synaptic is a really nice-looking package management system. You get a list of all of the available packages, making it very easy to find packages to install (or remove). The problem with Synaptic is that every time I fire it up, I have to wait for a while for it to build the list of available packages. Why can't this search be done in the background (so that there is no wait when firing up Synaptic)?

By default, X.org blanks the screen after a certain period of inactivity. Why is it so difficult to disable screen blanking? I had to try 4 or 5 different xorg.conf hacks before finding one that actually worked.

No doubt Ubuntu has come a long way, but it's still got a way to go.

Badger Broad Spectrum Sunscreen

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:01:00 +0000

Heimlich and I have decided to try out a broad spectrum sunscreen -- one that will block both UVA and UVB rays (as opposed to the old sunscreens that block UVB only). A the beginning of the season, we got a tube of Badger 15SPF broad spectrum sunscreen [amazon.com].

Broad spectrum sunscreens are quite a bit different than your father's sunscreen. It definitely has a strong, medicinal smell to it. And it takes much longer to apply (it's more of a paste-like). You have to spend more time and care rubbing it in.

This particular brand seems to separate into a paste and an oil after it has been sitting for a while. So, you have to get them to mix first.

Initially, we were in for quite a surprise: it seemed like you couldn't tan at all with this sunscreen on (not that we are looking to tan). Even with a generous application of our old sunscreens, we would still tan after a few hours in the sun. But with this new stuff, you don't even tan (which is excellent evidence that it is blocking far more than our old stuff used to). But then this weekend, Heimlich got badly sunburnt while using it (and even reapplying it frequently). So, we're still investigating.

As with all sunscreens, it has to be reapplied frequently to really be effective. It appears that we haven't hit upon the optimal usage pattern yet.

Streamlining of Toll Booths

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:53:00 +0000

One thing that I have never understood about the turnpike system is why the toll booths couldn't be more streamlined. There are plenty of locations where you cross a state line while on a turnpike. What this usually involves is waiting in line to stop at a toll booth on one side of the state line (to pay a toll). Then you drive a mile and wait in another line at another toll booth (to pick up a new turnpike ticket).

Why do you have to make everyone stop twice? Couldn't this be accomplished all in one stop? It would be quicker for all travelers, and you wouldn't have to pay as many toll booth attendants. It seems like a win-win.

Certainly, the developments in systems like EZ-pass and open road tolling gantry (where you don't even have to slow down from highway speeds) to take care of tolls are making things unbelievably better. But there will always be the need to have some cash lanes, and that is where consolidating toll booths could really help out travelers.

Neighbor Nicknames

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:04:00 +0000

We moved into our current house in 2006. So, by now, you would think that we would know most of our neighbors. But we don't.

We like the ones we have met, but we haven't met the vast majority of them. Many of them I have never even seen, and the ones I haven't talked to I obviously wouldn't recognize outside of the context of our street. So (like many people), we have come up with some nicknames for the neighbors we haven't met (since we don't know their real names). For instance there are The Rich People, who live in a house noticeably larger than any of the other houses on our street (actually, the footprint of their garage looks almost as large as our house's), drive a Lexus, and own a huge boat.

Recently, it occurred to me that our neighbors undoubtedly have created nicknames for Heimlich and I. I wonder what they call me?

Anal Lawn Guy?
Anti-social Weirdo?
The Guy Who Hates Dogs?
The Doofy Dresser?
Princess Hairgel?

Bose QuietComfort2 Review, Part 5

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:03:00 +0000

This is part 5 of a several part review of the Bose QuietComfort2 headphones. [Go to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4].

One of the things that you will frequently see in reviews of noise canceling headphones (of any brand) is complaints of users feeling "pressure" on their eardrums. It's a sensation like you have just taken off on a plane and are gaining altitude. Your natural reaction to the sensation of pressure on your eardrums is to try to "pop" your ears.

However, the noise canceling headphones don't actually produce pressure on your ears. They just create that same sensation. I too have noticed the sensation and find it slightly annoying. What I find myself doing is taking short breaks from using them about once an hour. Anyone debating about buying one of these units should be aware of this potential annoyance.

I've also wondered whether that sensation is an indication that it may damage my hearing. I found this study [hearingreview.com], which seems to lean in the direction that use of these headphones at a reasonable volume will not damage your hearing. But it stops short of really being conclusive. I imagine that this will be a higher profile issue once noise cancellation starts being a standard feature in cars [motorauthority.com].

At any rate, use of any headphones probably damages your hearing. But it seems that these aren't any worse for you than any other type of headphone. And in most situations, they allow me to listen to something at a lower volume than I would have been able to with a conventional set of headphones.

[Go to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4]

This Is the Zodiac Speaking

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:06:00 +0000

One of the books that I finished recently was This Is the Zodiac Speaking: Into the Mind of a Serial Killer [amazon.com] by Michael D. Kelleher and David Van Nuys.

The focus of the book is on The Zodiac Killer, who terrorized the San Francisco and surrounding areas in the late 1960s (but has never been identified). The two authors combine their journalism and psychology skills to freshly analyze the evidence that Zodiac had left, with the benefit of 30 years of hindsight. Zodiac not only left physical evidence, but also wrote a series of notorious letters to newspapers, in an effort to taunt the police and FBI. The authors delve into what these letters indicate about Zodiac, and why he couldn't be caught at the time.

Obviously, I wasn't alive during the time period when Zodiac was active, so I only knew the most superficial of details about Zodiac. The appeal of the book for me was a concise and objective accounting of the events and evidence. The authors do an excellent job of transporting the reader back to the time period, and the hysteria and fear that had gripped the San Francisco area at the time.

They run through a laundry list of theories that people have proposed along the way, as far as who Zodiac may have been, what his motives may have been, and how he got away with it. And most of those theories are discounted using an objective analysis of the evidence. I really enjoyed this read.

My only complaint is that it was annoying that the footnotes appear at the end of each chapter (as opposed to the page where they are referenced). As a result, you have to keep flipping back and forth to the end of the chapter as you read through it. Very annoying.

On Haggling

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:02:00 +0000

A few months ago, I mentioned that we were going to be redecorating our living room. Here's what it currently looks like:

As you can see, it's very cluttered and the furniture doesn't match with the room (because when we moved in, we just threw the furniture that we had in there). The TV is too low, and the entertainment center blocks the window on the wall behind, etc...

We finally made a little bit of progress on this front -- we bought some new furniture to replace all of the crap on that end of the room (surprising, because we never agree on furniture). We got a quote on the furniture, and then went home to discuss and measure the room. After deciding to go ahead with it, I called the salesperson and tried to haggle the price down by about 7%. She said that she would have to talk to her manager and then she would call us back.

She didn't call back for over 2 hours. Now, we had been in the store about 2 hours earlier, and there weren't that many customers. So, I can only assume that the delay in calling us back was because:

her manager is hard to get a hold of,
she forgot to call us back, or
it was a game to find out how eager we were to buy the furniture.

I don't know how these things work, but I reasoned that if we called her back first to find out what the delay was, she would know that we really wanted the furniture, and her counter offer could be higher (or possibly, I'm too eager to spot a conspiracy). In the end, she agreed to the price that asked for.

The furniture isn't going to arrive for another 7-8 weeks, unfortunately. Apparently, the economy isn't working in our favor (they don't have lots of inventory laying around). How could it possibly take that long to get non-custom furniture? I can only assume that amount of time is needed to harvest the wood from some endangered Amazonian rain forest, ship it here in a hermetically-sealed and climate-controlled container, before some carpenters specially flown over from Japan painstakingly hand carve each piece using only tools from the 18th century.

House and Gas Bills, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:06:00 +0000

Yesterday, I posted about the odyssey we have been having with our house. If there is a silver lining to this story, it's that the insulation we installed on our third floor has greatly reduced our gas bill (we have a gas furnace). Here's a copy of our gas bill from 2008, showing our usage for the previous 12 months:

We used 74.3 MCF (thousand cubic feet) of natural gas over the previous 12 months. Over that period of time, we paid an average of just over $10/MCF -- meaning we paid roughly $750 in natural gas usage over that 12 month period (plus fees).

At around that point, we fully insulated the third floor of our house (at a cost of maybe $120, plus all of our labor). Our latest gas bill shows our gas usage for the 12 months since we installed that insulation:

Wow! What a difference! The amount of gas needed in 12 months dropped from 74.3 to 10.5 MCF (a reduction of 85%). Some of the difference is certainly due to temperature differences between the two years. Some is also due to different thermostat settings. But clearly, the majority has to be due to the insulation we installed.

The latest graph looks a little strange. It looks like we used gas in Nov and Dec 2008, and then none since. In actuality, the Nov and Dec numbers are based on an estimate of our gas usage based from previous years. Of course, this estimate was waaay too high. The graph shows we haven't used any gas in the months since Dec, because we have been living off the credits from being overcharged. For this reason, our annual usage may have actually been lower than 10.5 MCF for the past year (because that 10.5 MCF includes gas we have been charged for, but haven't used yet, since we still have a credit).

Ok, so our house isn't quite a passive house [wikipedia.org] yet, but we just took a huge step in that direction. We just saved ourselves several hundred dollars in gas bills every year.

[Back to Part 1.]

House and Gas Bills, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:06:00 +0000

I wanted to post an update about our house, but first a recap of the odyssey:

In February 2008, the water pipes above our kitchen froze and then burst. It's a long story that you can read about in my previous posts. The contractor who fixed our house told us he thought the problem was the full bathroom that we have on our (uninsulated) third floor of our house. He thought the pipes froze on the third floor, and then froze downward.

During the summer in 2008, we fully insulated the third floor of our house (or as much as was practical to insulate). It ended up being a big job, but it was worth it if it would prevent our pipes from freezing again. Well, it turns out that wasn't the cause of the problem, because in December 2008 our pipes froze again. Since we knew exactly where the pipes were, we opened up the ceiling in the right spot, and Heimlich thawed out the pipes with a hairdryer before they burst. In the process, we discovered where cold air was entering our house and fixed it, hopefully preventing our pipes from freezing again in the future.

For the past six months or so, we have been living with holes in our kitchen ceiling. We had gotten to the point where we didn't even notice them anymore.

Well, I finally got around to fixing the holes (see above picture). We also placed a (borrowed) remote temperature sensor in the ceiling near the pipes. We will monitor the temperature near the pipes over the next winter, and if everything is hunky dory (translation: if the pipes don't freeze again) we'll finish off the job next spring.

More tomorrow.

Bose QuietComfort2 Review, Part 4

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:03:00 +0000

This is part 4 of a several part review of the Bose QuietComfort2 headphones. [Go to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5].

In Part 3, I had talked about the compartment for the battery that powers the unit (see below picture). I have some concerns about the durability of the battery door (particularly, the clip that holds it closed), but so far it has held up well. Apart from the battery door, the quality of the construction of the entire unit appears to be solid. Many reviewers have complained about stress cracking developing in the headband, and I am going to treat these headphones very gingerly for that reason. No doubt that could become a problem in the future.

Another feature that I was delighted with was the airplane adapter that these headphones come with. You know how on many airlines, you need a special set of headhphones to use the onboard entertainment system? I usually just use my own headphones (and suffer through only hearing the audio in one ear). Well, this set of headphones comes with a 2-prong adapter that allows you to use this (or any other) set of headphones with an airline entertainment system, and hear the audio in stereo.

I'm not exactly an audiophile, but my opinion is that the sound quality is excellent. It is certainly better than any pair of headphones I have used in the past few years.

[Go to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5.]

And The Sea Will Tell

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 09:03:00 +0000

I have just completed reading And the Sea Will Tell [amazon.com] by Vincent Bugliosi, after receiving a recommendation from a friend. It's a true story about two couples who separately sailed to a remote, uninhabited Pacific island, and how one couple ended up with both of the boats, presumably by murdering the other couple. Vincent Bugliosi (the author) was the trial lawyer who took on the job of defending the female defendant in the subsequent murder trial.

The narrative of the events that occurred on the island were fascinating, in a murder mystery kind of way -- although it is unpleasant that this story happens to be true. I was not expecting the book to be written from the point of view of a trial lawyer. Only the first half of the book is a narrative of the events occurring on the island (up to the date in question). The second half of the book is an account of what happened at the subsequent trial.

After reading the first half, it is difficult not to believe that the surviving couples aren't somehow guilty of murder. No doubt that certain pieces of information are deliberately withheld to lead you to that conclusion. And then what is amazing is that by the end of the book, you can't help but think that there's at least a pretty decent chance that the female defendant is innocent. It seems to have been written to take you through all of the emotions and internal debate that a jury member must have gone through at the trial.

So, in effect, it's a murder mystery crossed with a courtroom drama story. Only the courtroom drama is not depicted as it usually is on TV. The trial account details the hours of struggle that goes on behind the scenes of a trial, interpersonal problems between a lawyer and his client, and the difficulty of establishing anything as fact when no one (other than the defendants) were within a hundred miles of where the crime took place.

One particularly interesting section concerned judges, and how they are typically depicted as being learned, impartial men -- but the author believes that is usually not the case. His assertion (which you might expect was argued well, given that it had been written by a lawyer) was that politics and judges are inexorably intertwined, and that appointed judges are almost always appointed due to their political activity.

In the end, I felt that the book was not just a dry courtroom account of a trial. The book was interesting precisely because the reader's expectations were built slowly by surely throughout the book, climaxing with a surprisingly convincing summation given at the trial by Bugliosi. And there are enough twists at the end of the book to make the payoff worth the lengthy read. It's a very interesting book.

Well-Produced Autocross Video

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:04:00 +0000

I'm always looking for great videos to point people to when they ask me about autocross. The whole concept of amateur auto-racing can be really difficult to explain sometimes, because people automatically picture a completely different kind of racing when I tell them what I like to do on the weekends. Below is a really well-produced video showing some great shots of cars autocrossing:

Solo2 Part III from AdvanTech on Vimeo.

Ok, so maybe they overdid it with the high-speed video effects. But just watching that video is making me die to get back out there this weekend...

Picture of Me in Wired

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:04:00 +0000

Wired: Bomb Detection CEO Could be New Darpa Chief

The article focuses on a rumor that Regina Dugan (in the center of the picture) may be appointed the next head of DARPA. DARPA is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which has been responsible for developing all kinds of technology. They had their hands in the development of the internet, advanced unmanned aerial vehicles, etc, and were the creators of the DARPA Grand Challenge (the famed contest between robotic vehicles [wikipedia.org]). Blah blah blah...

The interesting part of the article (for me at least) is I'm in the picture that is running with the article! That picture was taken almost 10 years ago, when I (as part of a team) went to the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab to demonstrate some miniature autonomous robots.

Yup, that's me on the right there, back when I had a crew cut. I was having a bad hair decade. Remember, there was a point in my life when I had a mullet and thought that I didn't look like an idiot. It's not exactly like I have the best self-evaluation skills. I don't know what the hell I was thinking... Like my head isn't odd-shaped enough without drawing attention to it with a crew cut. All I needed was a pair of thick glasses to look exactly like a stereotypical aerospace engineer from the 50s.

This was, of course, before I discovered that it would look less ridiculous if I put an entire quart of hair gel into my hair each morning (which is what I do now).

Photo Credit: Case Western Reserve University

Bose QuietComfort2 Review, Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:07:00 +0000

This is part 3 of a several part review of the Bose QuietComfort2 headphones. [Go to Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, Part 5].

One the top of one of the earpieces is the battery compartment door (see below picture).

The headphones use a single AAA battery. I already use Powerex rechargeable AAA batteries for everything else that I use, and was delighted to find out that they work great in this set of headphones. I haven't been able to do any objective measurements of how long I can go between recharging batteries, but it is definitely above 10 hours (which is plenty, as far as I am concerned).

A light on the side of the headphones indicates when the unit is on (see above image). And this light will start blinking when the battery is low!

[Go to Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, Part 5.]

Email Wiretaps

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:03:00 +0000

Information Week: U.S. Court Weighs E-mail Privacy, Again

Here we go again... The issue is whether law enforcement should be able to have your ISP store and send them copies of your emails without a warrant. It's essentially the same thing as obtaining a wiretap on your phone... except that for some reason, if it's email, they don't need to obtain a warrant. From the article:

"In November 2006, the EFF, the ACLU of Ohio, and the CDT filed a similar amicus brief in support of Warshak, arguing that e-mail deserves the same legal protection as telephone calls. In June 2007, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Warshak's favor. But that decision was vacated on procedural grounds. And now the case is back before the court. "

There has to be some mechanism for oversight (such as obtaining warrants) when the government wants to start eavesdropping on everyone's communications. I don't understand why this hasn't provoked outrage -- so many people are so willing to give up their constitutional rights these days.

Birth by Cesarean in the US

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:03:00 +0000

LA Times: Childbirth: Can the U.S. improve?

Doctors in the US are recommending cesarean sections for births routinely (instead of just in cases where the mother's or baby's life is in danger), leading to increased medical expenses. Here's a quote from the article:

"The cesarean rate in the U.S. is higher than in most other developed nations. And in spite of a standing government goal of reducing such deliveries, the U.S. has set a new record every year for more than a decade.

"The problem, experts say, is that the cesarean -- delivery via uterine incision -- exposes a woman to the risk of infection, blood clots and other serious problems. Cesareans also have been shown to increase premature births and the need for intensive care for newborns. Even without such complications, cesareans result in longer hospital stays."

Heimlich pointed out to me that US infant mortality rate and other birth statistics may be skewed (and therefore appear to be worse than other developed nations), because many babies that would not have survived to term a decade ago are being delivered now.

Even taking factors such as those into account, the statistics that are found in that article are troubling.

Bose QuietComfort2 Review, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:04:00 +0000

This is part 2 of a several part review of the Bose QuietComfort2 headphones. [Go to Part 1, Part 3, Part 4].

One of the few features that I don't like about the headphones is the long cord. The cord is around 6' long. When I am wearing a portable media player and walking around the house, I have to wrap the cord around my body to prevent it from snagging doorknobs and other things as I walk by. People who mostly use it at a desk will probably like the length.

Speaking of snagging doorknobs with the cord, this set of headphones has a connector at both ends of the cord (see below pictures).

This means that if the cord does snag on something, there is a good chance that the cord will just pop out of the socket (instead of breaking a really expensive piece of electronics). This is a nice feature that none of my previous headphones have ever had.

The headphones do work well, but (like most over-the-ear units) are not comfortable to wear when it is hot. The weight isn't objectionable to me, but you really feel the weight when you might sweat. These will definitely motivate you to turn on the A/C.

[Go to Part 1, Part 3, Part 4.]

Mystery Airline Crashes

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 09:06:00 +0000

CNN: Flight 447 crash could join list of mysteries

The recent crash of Air France 447 has renewed interest in a bunch of crashes in recent history that have gone unexplained. Here are a few examples from the article:

"In 1994, U.S. Air Flight 427 crashed in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania... While federal officials identified a problem with the rudder but could not explain why the plane suddenly flipped and crashed, not a single clue has revealed why the mechanism failed."

Golfer Payne Stewart's Learjet crashed in 1999. Although federal investigators revealed that the cabin air system lost pressure, it still has not been determined why.

In January 2008, a British Airways Boeing 777 crashed short of the runway at Heathrow Airport in London, England. Nineteen of the 152 people aboard were injured. There still is no explanation for why the plane's engines lost power.

Fwing

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:05:00 +0000

They're calling it a "Fwing". I call it the next stupid thing that we inevitably see on riced-out civics.

Putting a wing on the front allows you to produce downforce on both ends of the car, which has some obvious advantages. Plenty of purpose-built race cars have had front wings for decades now. I suppose that it is inevitable that they would migrate to production cars.

From the article on Speedhunters:

"Love it or hate it, Chris Rado's fwing-equipped Scion delivered a 1:22.623 lap - destroying the competition in Unlimited FWD and shattering notions of what a front drive car is capable of. Apparently this was the fastest lap time ever recorded by a FWD vehicle at Willow Springs and no doubt this car will be even faster once Chris and the team get the boost issues figured out."

Seeing these things mounted on the street ultimately has the possibility of causing hazards to pedestrians, as well as creating blindspots. I wonder if these will trigger legislation specifically outlawing their use on the street, as whistle exhaust tips did [wisegeek.com].

Autopilot Systems and Flight 447

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 08:55:00 +0000

Time: A Past Flight May Offer Clues to Air France 447

From the article:

"...the closest we may get [to hearing a solution about what doomed Air France flight 447] is listening to the passengers on a similar Airbus 330 jet whose flight computer put it into an uncommanded dive over northwestern Australia last October."

"The plane has three air data inertial reference units (ADIRUs), which are designed to help the plane's flight-control computer fly the plane safely. The system is intended to eliminate the possibility of electronic error: the flight computer, which is always monitoring the trio, can disregard one ADIRU if it begins relaying information that conflicts with the other two."

"But that's not what happened when one of them went awry on Oct. 7..."

This is what is going to doom advancements in intelligent transportation systems. Are people ever going to develop any faith in autopilots in planes or cars when things like this are happening (and remain unexplained)? You could imagine a point in the foreseeable future when the majority of plane crashes occur due to software bugs and system malfunctions, rather than due to pilot error.

Is there any hope for intelligent highway systems? Really, the hardest part in the whole equation is collision avoidance. Even if it could be proven that automated driving systems are involved in less accidents on average per vehicle mile, are you going to be willing to give up the controls at the risk of having a random, unexplained snafu causing you to be involved in an accident?

Stars of Skymall

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:34:00 +0000

PC World: The Stars of Skymall

I love articles like this. Everyone always looks at those crazy SkyMall catalogs on planes, when you absolutely have nothing else to read. But no one actually buys any of that crap, right? I mean, if half of that stuff actually worked like they said it does, it would be front page news and the inventors would be rich. To me, SkyMall is like the Kmart of electronics stores.

I mean, look at what they advertise. An inflatable movie screen ($250)? A wrist wallet (for $15)? The ridiculous size of my wallet would definitely preclude the ability to wear it on my wrist (or I would develop enormous biceps in the attempt). How about a Bigfoot garden sculpture (for $100)? As if garden sculptures weren't kitschy enough without them being hideous.

Anyway, PC World ordered a bunch of the devices out of the catalog, and wrote about how well they worked (or didn't). Some of the devices that they tested included a wristband that purports to stop you from snoring, a spy pen that surreptitiously records video, and a watch that plays video.

Limping My Computers Along

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:07:00 +0000

Last week, I mentioned that I was building a new desktop computer because I could no longer limp my old one along. This drew a bunch of comments, after which I realized that I had not explained the context of that comment properly.

The main reason that I have been trying to limp my computers along far past the date that they should have been replaced is that I haven't figured out my long term strategy/upgrade path with computers... and I have been trying to put off making a decision as long as possible.

My current strategy is to maintain a desktop computer and a laptop, both which dual boot Linux and WinXP. In the not-too-distant future, it will be untenable to keep running WinXP on my machines, whether it be because of driver unavailability, unpatched security holes, etc. As I see it, I have the following options (in no particular order):

Buy Apple computers from now on, and run WinXP in emulation with Virtual PC or the like (highest cost),

Switch entirely to Linux for everything (lowest cost, but greatest probability of obscure, unforeseen issues)

Switch to Linux, but run WinXP or WinXP applications in emulation with VMWare or Wine,

Make the switch to Windows 7 (kill me now).

All of these options suck.

The whole issue is somewhat more complicated because I also maintain Heimlich's computers (and I have a feeling she isn't going to switch to a Mac or linux, no matter how annoying future versions of Windows are). So, I'm probably going to end up having to learn how to maintain Windows 7 anyway...

The decision to build a new desktop computer was relatively easy, because its purpose is to time-shift satellite radio for me, and there are no other options other than apps in Windows (but in a few years, I'll no longer have this need). The real decision time will come when my 5-year-old laptop finally dies. In the meantime, I'm going to keep limping it along as long as possible.

Bach on Giant Keyboard

noreply@blogger.com (Terence) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 09:04:00 +0000

Here's a cool video of Bach being performed on one of those huge keyboards:

Girls Rock A Giant Piano by FunnyVideos42 on YouTube

When I saw that for the first time, I couldn't help but be reminded of the scene in the movie Big [imdb.com], where Tom Hanks' character starts playing on a similar keyboard at FAO Schwartz. Can you believe that movie is 21 years old now?

The next thought that I had was: wow, that looks like the most awesome game of Dance Dance Revolution I have ever seen...