Here's the first grouping - a bunch of economics stuff.
U.S. Motorists Pared Driving by Most Ever in March
Oil Falls More Than $3 as Record Prices Curb U.S. Fuel Demand
India's Rice Farmers Abandon Paddies, Deepening Global Shortage
I have to admit that I never thought I would hear that first one - I figured that nothing short of an act of God would be able to convince us to trim our driving habits. Wow! I don't really count the drop in driving brought on by the Iranian oil embargo as a 'voluntary' driving drop since waiting lines surely dropped driving by a lot. Something the article doesn't directly talk about, but the second one does, is the lower oil usage that comes with a slower economy. As people buy fewer things, less oil is used in production and transportation. Between lower driving distances and lower production, there might be enough to impact oil prices a little, at least in the short run.
And then finally the last one is the best reporting on rice (and food in general) production and the shortages that are currently happening. No starving yet, though you wouldn't know it to hear most news stories, but it certainly is making it much harder on third-world areas that have essentially no disposable income that can get shifted to pay for more expensive food. The missionary that spoke at church on Sunday talked about his field in El Salvadore where people make $20 per week, and food has jumped from $1.50 per week up to over $3 per week, and fuel has jumped to over $5 per gallon. So instead of having 30% of their income go toward food, they have over 60% going just toward food, and fuel has become an impossibility.
The Virtual Socialite III
SJ has a hilarious series of posts going on about a fantasy socialite mother's life. Make sure to read the first couple to get the full series and tone of what's going on. Absolutely terrific!
The Best Game Ever
Improv Everywhere does some mass-scale pranks and jokes, most of which are very nice. Here's one that is absolutely terrific. I remember those Little League games well, and can just imagine the impact and "bizarreness" this prank would have had.
Clinton Regrets RFK Assassination Remark
Barak Obama is cranking up the slime machine to outrageous proportions on this. It's similar to how he took offense that President Bush was somehow attacking him personally in a speech in Israel when President Bush spoke out against dealing with terrorists. This time, it was Hillary's turn when Obama took a statement she made about how RFK was still campaigning in June when he was killed, to somehow mean that she was hoping Obama would be killed! Bizarreness!
And finally, just a bit of stuff I received in the mail last week - a paper prayer rug that had been specifically prayed for by a St. Matthew's Church!
Oh yay, yippee skippy.
This was uber-cheesy. It said that if you stared at the face of Jesus on the paper, the eyes that were closed would start to look like they were open, looking at you. (you can do the same optical illusion any number of different ways) They offered a "blessed by the church" Prosperity Cross. They offered prayers for new cars, new homes, better job, and even a place where you could write in the amount of money that you wanted them to pray that you would receive. Of course they encouraged you to send in a "seed gift" of money, too.
Here were a few of my favorites:
"The power to speak blessings into your own life is in you. You must discover the ways to use this power." (Use the Force, Luke!)
"Dear Someone Connected With This Address, .... We believe that you, or someone connected with this address, and another dear family are about to be blessed through this unusual, Bible Faith, Church, Prayer Rug..." (Glad to see they're so personal about this. The least they could do is use a decent mailing list that includes names!)
"We want this Church Ministry, Prayer Rug to be touching both your knees as you pray...." (Because prayers don't work unless it's touching both knees, of course!)
"If you need more joy, peace, health, money, a new car, a new house, ... or whatever, we as a very old (57 years) church, want to know about it." (I'm not joking! They put in that "57 years" piece! LOL! What an ancient church! 57 years old! The Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church are awed at the antiquity! Hahahahaha!!!!)
This was as bad as some of the Nigerian scams, only this was printed. I would love to know if they actually catch anyone with a scam like this. It seems to me that they would be spending more money on the printings and mailings than they could hope to skin from the very few people who might fall for this. I should have mailed something back to them (sans "seed money") to hopefully get them to spend more money sending junk to me. Hopefully that would mean fewer people would be exposed to their scam.
Next time!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Memorial Day 08
It certainly started off with a bang on Saturday as C&I headed out the Round Hill for their parade and festival. Our church had a giant cross in the back of a decorated truck as our "float". That just makes me happy on all sorts of different levels. We tossed candy and handed out several hundred invitations for the community breakfast our church had the next day.
After that was the festival itself where I was in charge of games. Theoretically we were just supposed to have the games in between the music sets at the stage, but as it seemed to happen last year, the games weren't anywhere near so temporally defined, and tended to drift beyond their time slots. Especially the balloon toss!
I got to participate in the pie-eating contest, and immediately after I got to clog! Wheee!!! Try eating a chocolate creme pie 15 minutes before dancing for 30 minutes! Actually, I didn't suffer too bad, mainly because I tried to swallow too much on my first chomp into the pie, and a bunch got stuck in my throat, which slowed my eating down, and I didn't win. :^(
Afterwards, C&I hooked up with M&J and their newborn boy and spent an hour talking. He's coming out to be a prof at PHC, C knew him at Sterling College, and was roommates with his wife J. Forget small world; try tiny world! They were out here to track down a house, and seem to have succeeded - they put in an offer on a home in P-ville, and are waiting for the bank (which owns the property) to get back to them. Hopefully all will go smoothly.
Probably the nicest thing about the whole weekend was the lovely weather, the long walks C&I took, and having J for Memorial Day. (I seriously need to figure out another way to signify people other than by a letter or two - way to much opportunity for confusion. The J I'm refering to here is my son, J, not C's friend J.)
I ought to measure how far we've strolled, but it can't have been less than 5-6 miles. And the weather was absolutely perfect for it! Friday night was a walk somewhere or other - I don't remember the locations, just that I was with C. Saturday was the parade. On Sunday we headed out with J to a park and played for a couple hours. After heading to the Memorial Day Ceremony in Leesburg, we walked over to the cemetery and showed Jeremiah around. Monday evening, we walked over to CVS to pick up a couple things, and had a most delightful shower cool us down on the way back - the air was warm and muggy, then the breeze picked up, and the rain started falling in a light sprinkling of coolness that was positively heavenly. Definitely one of those perfect endings to a day. Or at least the perfect beginning to a perfect ending of a day.
Anyway, Memorial Day 2008 was wonderful in the McConnell (Virginia branch) household.
After that was the festival itself where I was in charge of games. Theoretically we were just supposed to have the games in between the music sets at the stage, but as it seemed to happen last year, the games weren't anywhere near so temporally defined, and tended to drift beyond their time slots. Especially the balloon toss!
I got to participate in the pie-eating contest, and immediately after I got to clog! Wheee!!! Try eating a chocolate creme pie 15 minutes before dancing for 30 minutes! Actually, I didn't suffer too bad, mainly because I tried to swallow too much on my first chomp into the pie, and a bunch got stuck in my throat, which slowed my eating down, and I didn't win. :^(
Afterwards, C&I hooked up with M&J and their newborn boy and spent an hour talking. He's coming out to be a prof at PHC, C knew him at Sterling College, and was roommates with his wife J. Forget small world; try tiny world! They were out here to track down a house, and seem to have succeeded - they put in an offer on a home in P-ville, and are waiting for the bank (which owns the property) to get back to them. Hopefully all will go smoothly.
Probably the nicest thing about the whole weekend was the lovely weather, the long walks C&I took, and having J for Memorial Day. (I seriously need to figure out another way to signify people other than by a letter or two - way to much opportunity for confusion. The J I'm refering to here is my son, J, not C's friend J.)
I ought to measure how far we've strolled, but it can't have been less than 5-6 miles. And the weather was absolutely perfect for it! Friday night was a walk somewhere or other - I don't remember the locations, just that I was with C. Saturday was the parade. On Sunday we headed out with J to a park and played for a couple hours. After heading to the Memorial Day Ceremony in Leesburg, we walked over to the cemetery and showed Jeremiah around. Monday evening, we walked over to CVS to pick up a couple things, and had a most delightful shower cool us down on the way back - the air was warm and muggy, then the breeze picked up, and the rain started falling in a light sprinkling of coolness that was positively heavenly. Definitely one of those perfect endings to a day. Or at least the perfect beginning to a perfect ending of a day.
Anyway, Memorial Day 2008 was wonderful in the McConnell (Virginia branch) household.
Friday, May 23, 2008
A post or two from the wife's blog
My beautiful, gracious, loving, kind, funny, sexy, graceful, lithe, gorgeous, stunning, radiant, lovely, brilliant, generous, witty, stately, um, uh, beautiful, forgiving, selfless, gentle, err, ... sexy, exquisite, ... um, wonderful, ... Oh bother. I'm running out of adjectives and I still haven't covered everything.
Anyway, my {insert from above} wife has a few posts that I wanted to pass along.
Freeport, Kansas - all the statistics you could hope to know about the littlest incorporated town in America. I got a kick out of it. I like math humor though. I almost snorted water when I read an email at work where one of the Dr.'s here described someone being absent as "their chair is occupied by an empty set". Nick, you might enjoy that.
Google Book Search and WorldCat are teaming up! Unfortunately, they won't be available until November according to current reports, but this could be pretty handy. When doing research, Google should be able to be a one-stop-shop sort of place, which will be very handy for me.
Anyway, my {insert from above} wife has a few posts that I wanted to pass along.
Freeport, Kansas - all the statistics you could hope to know about the littlest incorporated town in America. I got a kick out of it. I like math humor though. I almost snorted water when I read an email at work where one of the Dr.'s here described someone being absent as "their chair is occupied by an empty set". Nick, you might enjoy that.
Google Book Search and WorldCat are teaming up! Unfortunately, they won't be available until November according to current reports, but this could be pretty handy. When doing research, Google should be able to be a one-stop-shop sort of place, which will be very handy for me.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Beating the gas prices
If anyone is up on searching out news items, you might want to take a look at something called hyper-miling. It's about people who are squeezing every last inch out of a gallon of gas. I've take a few tips, but haven't gone whole hog, and I've noticed that my gas mileage has gone up very nicely. Most of my driving is in stop-and-go traffic to and from work - not a great environment for gas mileage. Usually my car got around 25 MPG, which was pretty good, but now I'm getting 29 to 30 MPG.
Mostly it just involves shifting the car into neutral when I see I'm going to be coasting to a stop, or down a long hill. I can see my engine drop from 1500 or 2000 rpm down to 500 to 700 rpm when I do that, and it's made a difference. I've paid attention to how long lights take, and there's been the occasion when I'll turn off my engine if I know I'm going to be sitting at a long light.
Probably the biggest difference-maker has been the style of driving - instead of trying to keep right up to the car in front of me, I accelerate more slowly and leave plenty of room between me and the person in front of me. When I see a stop coming up ahead, I try to time my slowing down (if possible) so that I am still moving along when they start moving again. From what I've read, that's also a very good thing for traffic flow, as well as avoiding extra acceleration.
Lastly, but not least, I pay attention to what the price of oil is doing. Yesterday it jumped several dollars, and so I made sure to fill up even though I was still 3/4 full. This morning, as I drove by, I noticed that the price had jumped 8 cents overnight. Granted, it was only 3 gallons ($0.24 saved) but it still felt good.
I'm seriously contemplating getting a bicycle and trying a ride to work. It's 14 miles by the roads, but the W&OD trail takes a relatively straight shot and runs close by both my house and work. It takes me about a gallon to get there and back, so the bicycling would only save me $4 per trip, and it might take me two hours of bicycling to save that $4.
It would give me a great deal of pleasure to avoid paying for gas, even if it took me a ton of work to do that. Hmmmmmm.......
Mostly it just involves shifting the car into neutral when I see I'm going to be coasting to a stop, or down a long hill. I can see my engine drop from 1500 or 2000 rpm down to 500 to 700 rpm when I do that, and it's made a difference. I've paid attention to how long lights take, and there's been the occasion when I'll turn off my engine if I know I'm going to be sitting at a long light.
Probably the biggest difference-maker has been the style of driving - instead of trying to keep right up to the car in front of me, I accelerate more slowly and leave plenty of room between me and the person in front of me. When I see a stop coming up ahead, I try to time my slowing down (if possible) so that I am still moving along when they start moving again. From what I've read, that's also a very good thing for traffic flow, as well as avoiding extra acceleration.
Lastly, but not least, I pay attention to what the price of oil is doing. Yesterday it jumped several dollars, and so I made sure to fill up even though I was still 3/4 full. This morning, as I drove by, I noticed that the price had jumped 8 cents overnight. Granted, it was only 3 gallons ($0.24 saved) but it still felt good.
I'm seriously contemplating getting a bicycle and trying a ride to work. It's 14 miles by the roads, but the W&OD trail takes a relatively straight shot and runs close by both my house and work. It takes me about a gallon to get there and back, so the bicycling would only save me $4 per trip, and it might take me two hours of bicycling to save that $4.
It would give me a great deal of pleasure to avoid paying for gas, even if it took me a ton of work to do that. Hmmmmmm.......
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Science news
Ok, here are a couple of interesting-for-me articles that I've run across in the last couple days, all on science stuff.
First off comes Skyfarming - Turning Skyscrapers Into Crop Farms. They're basically building a great big, high-tech, skyscraper greenhouse. It's going to take a ton of money, but it sounds like it's going to happen!
The article is a bit on the outdated side of things though when it starts talking about the environment. "nearly all the land that can produce food is already being farmed—even without accounting for the possibility of losing more to rising sea levels and climate change (which could turn arable land into dust bowls)" Yup, most of the world's arable land is already being used. Hahahaha!!!!! And then they top it off by claiming that global warming is going to reduce the amount of arable land. Sigh. It's for New York Magazine, hardly a bastion of scientific intelligence, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
On to the next! This is is a very, very sad sort of article. I realize that techie nerds and geeks get a bum rap sometimes with stereotypes. This guy deserves it though! Weird Science! NYU Student Invents Virtual Girlfriend. There's a reason that this guy doesn't have a real life girlfriend!
Finally the best for last! I know this is sort of old, but it's still very cool. Nanogenerator harvests energy from environmental sources. While I suspect that the "nano" part of these generators is false, these are still very cool sorts of generators that use incidental things in their environment to generate power - sound waves, vibrations, motion, blood flow, etc.
One of the things that gets overlooked when talking about nanobots that can do all sorts of cool science fiction-y things is that it takes a boatload of energy. Nanobots (or microbots or milibots) can't realistically carry fuel with them because it would make them too big. They have to have a battery or a non-fuel-based generator. Well, here's a generator that can generate some energy out of the environment around it. Another step toward having science fiction in real life!
First off comes Skyfarming - Turning Skyscrapers Into Crop Farms. They're basically building a great big, high-tech, skyscraper greenhouse. It's going to take a ton of money, but it sounds like it's going to happen!
The article is a bit on the outdated side of things though when it starts talking about the environment. "nearly all the land that can produce food is already being farmed—even without accounting for the possibility of losing more to rising sea levels and climate change (which could turn arable land into dust bowls)" Yup, most of the world's arable land is already being used. Hahahaha!!!!! And then they top it off by claiming that global warming is going to reduce the amount of arable land. Sigh. It's for New York Magazine, hardly a bastion of scientific intelligence, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
On to the next! This is is a very, very sad sort of article. I realize that techie nerds and geeks get a bum rap sometimes with stereotypes. This guy deserves it though! Weird Science! NYU Student Invents Virtual Girlfriend. There's a reason that this guy doesn't have a real life girlfriend!
Finally the best for last! I know this is sort of old, but it's still very cool. Nanogenerator harvests energy from environmental sources. While I suspect that the "nano" part of these generators is false, these are still very cool sorts of generators that use incidental things in their environment to generate power - sound waves, vibrations, motion, blood flow, etc.
One of the things that gets overlooked when talking about nanobots that can do all sorts of cool science fiction-y things is that it takes a boatload of energy. Nanobots (or microbots or milibots) can't realistically carry fuel with them because it would make them too big. They have to have a battery or a non-fuel-based generator. Well, here's a generator that can generate some energy out of the environment around it. Another step toward having science fiction in real life!
Friday, May 16, 2008
I knew I liked him!
Augustine, that is. I ran across an awesome quote from him that applies very nicely to today's arguments about evolution and science and Christianity. AiG, RTB, and a few other places should pay more attention to Augustine here:
Moon dust, c-decay, magically changing radioactive rates, 2nd Law of Thermodynamics beginning at the Fall, human and dino footprints together, gravitationally collapsing sun, etc, etc, etc.
"...in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn"
Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he hold to as being certain from reason and experience. Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn...
Moon dust, c-decay, magically changing radioactive rates, 2nd Law of Thermodynamics beginning at the Fall, human and dino footprints together, gravitationally collapsing sun, etc, etc, etc.
"...in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn"
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Nice while it lasted
J got a red today.
While playing flag football, J didn't like a boy trying to take his flag, so he tried to hit him. A definite red day.
At least he missed.
We're going to have a heck of a talk and stuff about that.
The attempted hitting, that is. Not the missing.
While playing flag football, J didn't like a boy trying to take his flag, so he tried to hit him. A definite red day.
At least he missed.
We're going to have a heck of a talk and stuff about that.
The attempted hitting, that is. Not the missing.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
A little note about J
He got greens on Monday and Tuesday!
For those not in the know, the kids at his school get yellows and reds if they act up in school. The threshold seems to be pretty low, and a few times I've had thoughts of "they consider THAT to be an offense?!?" But, there are also plenty of times that he's definitely deserved the reds or yellows he's gotten.
He has a running promise that he can go to Chuck-e-Cheese if he gets an entire week of greens. So far he's come close a few times, but there's always been something. One week he was great all week until on Friday he got a yellow. Sigh.
Maybe this will be the week.
For those not in the know, the kids at his school get yellows and reds if they act up in school. The threshold seems to be pretty low, and a few times I've had thoughts of "they consider THAT to be an offense?!?" But, there are also plenty of times that he's definitely deserved the reds or yellows he's gotten.
He has a running promise that he can go to Chuck-e-Cheese if he gets an entire week of greens. So far he's come close a few times, but there's always been something. One week he was great all week until on Friday he got a yellow. Sigh.
Maybe this will be the week.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Praise Stuff, Lazy Stuff
That just about describes Sunday. I've mentioned before that one of the kids in youth group is currently in JuvieD for a 9 month stretch. He was able to have four hours outside for Mother's Day. He came to church, which he certainly seemed to enjoy, but there's certainly not any change in attitude or outlook evident. If he doesn't see that anything was wrong with what he did, I have fears for him getting back into trouble. Still, he didn't do a runner, everyone welcomed him back, and he seemed glad to be with the church - all good news.
The other item of praise is that it was Breakfast Sunday! Always a thing to be happy about! (we have a breakfast at church once a month) As usual, I brought Dunkin' Donuts® coffee, and this time we brought along a baked rice pudding too. It didn't turn out too badly, if I do say so myself!
After church, C&I headed home and had a typically exciting afternoon - we took a nap!
Yup, what a wild, crazy life we lead.
Next weekend will be a bit more active with J. We're planning on getting some Walker Texas Ranger episodes to watch with him. He is VERY heavily into policemen, and after Charlessa got some cowboy books for him, he's added "cowboy policeman" to his list of heroes. So, what else would we watch? Walker Texas Ranger!
Last week was a rough week at the library for C as she found out that the position of Library Assistant which desperately needs to be filled and for which she was actively interviewing candidates - got cut by accident and they can't fit it back into the budget even though it was a mistake that it was removed. So, this week she's trying to convince the powers that be to do some creative financing to at least get some part-time help or something, because otherwise there's going to be a LOT of stuff that won't get done at the library for the coming year.
If anyone wants to volunteer at the PHC library this summer, I think something could be worked out!
The other item of praise is that it was Breakfast Sunday! Always a thing to be happy about! (we have a breakfast at church once a month) As usual, I brought Dunkin' Donuts® coffee, and this time we brought along a baked rice pudding too. It didn't turn out too badly, if I do say so myself!
After church, C&I headed home and had a typically exciting afternoon - we took a nap!
Yup, what a wild, crazy life we lead.
Next weekend will be a bit more active with J. We're planning on getting some Walker Texas Ranger episodes to watch with him. He is VERY heavily into policemen, and after Charlessa got some cowboy books for him, he's added "cowboy policeman" to his list of heroes. So, what else would we watch? Walker Texas Ranger!
Last week was a rough week at the library for C as she found out that the position of Library Assistant which desperately needs to be filled and for which she was actively interviewing candidates - got cut by accident and they can't fit it back into the budget even though it was a mistake that it was removed. So, this week she's trying to convince the powers that be to do some creative financing to at least get some part-time help or something, because otherwise there's going to be a LOT of stuff that won't get done at the library for the coming year.
If anyone wants to volunteer at the PHC library this summer, I think something could be worked out!
Monday, May 12, 2008
Weight lifting numbers
Bro, you'd better start lifting, otherwise I'm going to start catching up!
| Exercise | 5/5/08 | 5/10/08 | ||
| Weight | Reps | Weight | Reps | |
| Lat Pulldown | 140 | 10,8,6 | 140 | 11,8,8 |
| Bench Press | 135 | 11,7,7 | 135 | 11,7,7 |
| Hamstr. Curl | 110 | 10,10,10 | 120 | 8,8,6 |
| Back Row | 55 | 10,8,8 | 60 | 10,8,7 |
| Bicep Curl | 30 | 11,7,9 | 35 | 8,6,5 |
| Calf (per) | 160 | 10,9,11 | 160 | 10,9,9,8 |
| Ovrhd Press | 30 | 11,9 | 30 | 12,10,10 |
| Squats | 135 | 10,8 | ||
| Tricep Ext. | 40 | 11/8/7 | ||
Friday, May 09, 2008
News and Blogs
Ran across a series about global warming and Wikipedia's take on it. One of the things that I've heard about Wikipedia is that it is the wave of the future - that some day information will be generated by the masses to collect it all and make it all freely available. Such sentiments are usually made by the more rabid free-information zealots, but the general concept has become fairly widely spread - that centrally controlled and disseminated information comes with bias and can't be trusted, but that Wikipedia (and other free-info disseminators) are the savior.
Well, not so fast. Once you get into the workings of Wikipedia in particular (it applies to other similar places as well) you'll find that it's not necessarily the intellectually free and honest place it's advertised to be. This is one of the reasons that Wikipedia is not a reputable source for information, at least not on topics that have much controversy.
Wikipedia's Zealots
Hide your name on Wicked Pedia
At Wikipedia, one man engineers the debate on global warming, and shapes it to his views
Climate Martians
A bit of science - a possible new element has been found. This is a stable one that is quite a bit heavier than the heaviest we have observed/made yet. All the heaviest we have available are incredibly unstable - breaking down in less than a hundredth or thousandth of a second. If we can find/make lots of these super-heavy and stable atoms, I can think of some very cool applications!
Possible New Element Could Rewrite Textbooks
And finally, a bit of theology. Just from the number of times he has popped up in the thinks I link here, I guess he's one of my favorites! Unfortunately, several obnoxious Lutherans have found the place and are making a pest of the comments, but the main posts are still excellent!
The Jesus Shaped Question: Can We Know What Jesus Was Like?
Well, not so fast. Once you get into the workings of Wikipedia in particular (it applies to other similar places as well) you'll find that it's not necessarily the intellectually free and honest place it's advertised to be. This is one of the reasons that Wikipedia is not a reputable source for information, at least not on topics that have much controversy.
Wikipedia's Zealots
Hide your name on Wicked Pedia
At Wikipedia, one man engineers the debate on global warming, and shapes it to his views
Climate Martians
A bit of science - a possible new element has been found. This is a stable one that is quite a bit heavier than the heaviest we have observed/made yet. All the heaviest we have available are incredibly unstable - breaking down in less than a hundredth or thousandth of a second. If we can find/make lots of these super-heavy and stable atoms, I can think of some very cool applications!
Possible New Element Could Rewrite Textbooks
And finally, a bit of theology. Just from the number of times he has popped up in the thinks I link here, I guess he's one of my favorites! Unfortunately, several obnoxious Lutherans have found the place and are making a pest of the comments, but the main posts are still excellent!
The Jesus Shaped Question: Can We Know What Jesus Was Like?
Bro, this one is for you.
Hi, my name is J. I'm an addict. I'm not clean and don't want to be. I'm addicted to snippets. bar.baen.com is my favorite dealer. If I don't get a fix I start shaking and becoming irritable. They continue leaking out snippets of upcoming books, and I can't stop myself. I have to read them.
Travis "Doc" Taylor is my current favorite - fluff sci-fi, but very, very good technology! Sometimes we get to commenting on different aspects of the stories. Being a sci-fi group, we talk about all sorts of fun (for us) concepts. Most recently we got to talking about nanobots as weapons. Bro, here's what I wrote. What do you think?
As far as the using nanobots as the weapon, there are some VERY major problems with that, mainly the control and intelligence issues. There are also the issues of the physical counter-measures that could be taken.
Each nanobot has a pretty darned tiny amount of processing power and intelligence (assuming we aren't using the sort of space warping tech of Quantum Connection). To gain a useful level of ability out of the nanobots there needs to be
1) a network among the nanobots to gather enough processing power to make intelligent decisions for itself
2) direct control from a more powerful remote location of some sort
3) preprogrammed instructions that would be fairly basic, but possibly very powerful (convert all possible materials into either more of yourself or into a useless dust)
All three of these have some very major weaknesses or dangers that really rule them out as large-scale weapons which have to operate against capable defending enemies.
If the nanobots use a network, the network is then very susceptible to interference or hacking. The more protection on the network, the less room there is for useful computation. Each nanobot has a very tiny amount of power/processing available to it, and so interference is relatively easy to accomplish, even if the nanobots use shifting spectra and stuff like that. Brute power has a quality all of it's own even if it is crude, and compared to the energy/computation available to the nanos it would be fairly easy to achieve some major brute power abilities to shut down their network.
If there is a remote controller, it is much easier for the nanos to work against defenses, and it's more difficult for them to be cut off from their controller than an intra-nanobot network. The drawbacks are the typical hacking/blocking/interference possibilities, along with the issue of control of a large swarm of nanobots. Directly controlling millions or billions of machines is a MAJOR undertaking for anything. A balance would need to be struck between total individual control from remote sources, and nanobot autonomous decision-making following general commands.
The last possibility is the give-em-instructions-and-let-them-loose option. VERY dangerous for all concerned. I certainly wouldn't want to make them self-replicating around suitable materials unless I was *beeped* sure they were going to stop when they're supposed to. Grey-goo or grey-dust scenarios would be a possibility. You'd have to have a timed on and off setting that MUST get passed along to all future generations of nanobots, or an absolute failsafe command that could not be removed that would turn them off. In this regard, the nanobot weapon would operate much more like a bomb - drop on a remote location and wait for it to be done. If they aren't self-replicating, a lot of the danger is removed, but not all of it. If any/many of the nanobots failed to stop their attack-mode when they're supposed to, the area would be a danger to anyone there, friend or foe - similar to a dirty-bombed city.
There are methods that I can imagine would be very useful against nanobots. Depending on their construction they could be susceptible to EMP defences. Electrical shocks would probably fry them pretty easily. Heat and acid would be potential defenses too. Nanomachines of any complexity would be pretty darned sensitive to breakdowns. Manipulators, transmitters, and motivators that consist of only a few thousand atoms each are delicate.
Personally I think that nanobot use as weapons would be much more useful in infiltration, spying and disruption than in large-scale destruction. (except maybe in the bomb-category of destruction)
Travis "Doc" Taylor is my current favorite - fluff sci-fi, but very, very good technology! Sometimes we get to commenting on different aspects of the stories. Being a sci-fi group, we talk about all sorts of fun (for us) concepts. Most recently we got to talking about nanobots as weapons. Bro, here's what I wrote. What do you think?
As far as the using nanobots as the weapon, there are some VERY major problems with that, mainly the control and intelligence issues. There are also the issues of the physical counter-measures that could be taken.
Each nanobot has a pretty darned tiny amount of processing power and intelligence (assuming we aren't using the sort of space warping tech of Quantum Connection). To gain a useful level of ability out of the nanobots there needs to be
1) a network among the nanobots to gather enough processing power to make intelligent decisions for itself
2) direct control from a more powerful remote location of some sort
3) preprogrammed instructions that would be fairly basic, but possibly very powerful (convert all possible materials into either more of yourself or into a useless dust)
All three of these have some very major weaknesses or dangers that really rule them out as large-scale weapons which have to operate against capable defending enemies.
If the nanobots use a network, the network is then very susceptible to interference or hacking. The more protection on the network, the less room there is for useful computation. Each nanobot has a very tiny amount of power/processing available to it, and so interference is relatively easy to accomplish, even if the nanobots use shifting spectra and stuff like that. Brute power has a quality all of it's own even if it is crude, and compared to the energy/computation available to the nanos it would be fairly easy to achieve some major brute power abilities to shut down their network.
If there is a remote controller, it is much easier for the nanos to work against defenses, and it's more difficult for them to be cut off from their controller than an intra-nanobot network. The drawbacks are the typical hacking/blocking/interference possibilities, along with the issue of control of a large swarm of nanobots. Directly controlling millions or billions of machines is a MAJOR undertaking for anything. A balance would need to be struck between total individual control from remote sources, and nanobot autonomous decision-making following general commands.
The last possibility is the give-em-instructions-and-let-them-loose option. VERY dangerous for all concerned. I certainly wouldn't want to make them self-replicating around suitable materials unless I was *beeped* sure they were going to stop when they're supposed to. Grey-goo or grey-dust scenarios would be a possibility. You'd have to have a timed on and off setting that MUST get passed along to all future generations of nanobots, or an absolute failsafe command that could not be removed that would turn them off. In this regard, the nanobot weapon would operate much more like a bomb - drop on a remote location and wait for it to be done. If they aren't self-replicating, a lot of the danger is removed, but not all of it. If any/many of the nanobots failed to stop their attack-mode when they're supposed to, the area would be a danger to anyone there, friend or foe - similar to a dirty-bombed city.
There are methods that I can imagine would be very useful against nanobots. Depending on their construction they could be susceptible to EMP defences. Electrical shocks would probably fry them pretty easily. Heat and acid would be potential defenses too. Nanomachines of any complexity would be pretty darned sensitive to breakdowns. Manipulators, transmitters, and motivators that consist of only a few thousand atoms each are delicate.
Personally I think that nanobot use as weapons would be much more useful in infiltration, spying and disruption than in large-scale destruction. (except maybe in the bomb-category of destruction)
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Playing Craft Show
As I look back, I've had one of the best possible times growing up. Obviously that wasn't necessarily my view at the time, but it really was a great childhood in just about every respect. Great parents, friends, church, and education. But the thing that is the biggest general memory is working at the craft shows!
Every spring, summer, and fall we would be heading out to craft shows almost every other weekend. I helped much less than I should have at home to make the ironwork mainly because it was *work*, but the craft shows were a blast! We'd take off early in the morning for shows that were nearby, and the day before for shows that were further away or were particularly large shows.
This last weekend I got to play "craft show" again, as my parents were down at the Winchester Apple Blossom festival again. Jer and I headed out Friday night and Charlessa joined us later that night after she wrapped up a meeting of her own. All day Saturday we got to be at the craft show! J played with a Lego set on a tarp while we did selling and hauling all day. J got to take walks around the show with Grandpa. He likes going with him more than with me because Grandpa is such a soft-touch when it comes to slushies and food! :^)
C did a TON of selling which let me do lots of hauling and assembling of some of the items. Since I'm "young and spry" I get to go grab extra inventory from the trailer, and do the assembly on a couple of the items. (jamming very tight-fitting things together)
Dad and Mom were pretty wiped out at the end of the day, but a craft show wouldn't be a craft show without heading out to dinner afterwards! C&I took a very wonderful walk after dinner while the other went back for showers. We finally got back just in time for me to tell a good-night story to J (who wanted to sleep in Grandma and Grandpa's room). Of course C&I were still as fresh as spring daisies (pretty as one too, in C's case), but just to go along with the flow, we went to bed pretty quickly afterwards too. :^)
Sunday was just as busy, if not more so, but by the time C had to take off for Awana, it was pretty well slowed down and so we were able to function without her (at least as far as sales went). Closing up went very well since we didn't have much left out. That's always our goal - pull only enough stuff out of the trailer to stay ahead of the customers, and since the trailer was only a few hundred feet away, it was pretty easy to keep a just-in-time system that left us with very little extra to haul back.
So, I got to play craft show, J got to have fun at the craft show, and everything turned out marvelously well! Good times, good times!
Every spring, summer, and fall we would be heading out to craft shows almost every other weekend. I helped much less than I should have at home to make the ironwork mainly because it was *work*, but the craft shows were a blast! We'd take off early in the morning for shows that were nearby, and the day before for shows that were further away or were particularly large shows.
This last weekend I got to play "craft show" again, as my parents were down at the Winchester Apple Blossom festival again. Jer and I headed out Friday night and Charlessa joined us later that night after she wrapped up a meeting of her own. All day Saturday we got to be at the craft show! J played with a Lego set on a tarp while we did selling and hauling all day. J got to take walks around the show with Grandpa. He likes going with him more than with me because Grandpa is such a soft-touch when it comes to slushies and food! :^)
C did a TON of selling which let me do lots of hauling and assembling of some of the items. Since I'm "young and spry" I get to go grab extra inventory from the trailer, and do the assembly on a couple of the items. (jamming very tight-fitting things together)
Dad and Mom were pretty wiped out at the end of the day, but a craft show wouldn't be a craft show without heading out to dinner afterwards! C&I took a very wonderful walk after dinner while the other went back for showers. We finally got back just in time for me to tell a good-night story to J (who wanted to sleep in Grandma and Grandpa's room). Of course C&I were still as fresh as spring daisies (pretty as one too, in C's case), but just to go along with the flow, we went to bed pretty quickly afterwards too. :^)
Sunday was just as busy, if not more so, but by the time C had to take off for Awana, it was pretty well slowed down and so we were able to function without her (at least as far as sales went). Closing up went very well since we didn't have much left out. That's always our goal - pull only enough stuff out of the trailer to stay ahead of the customers, and since the trailer was only a few hundred feet away, it was pretty easy to keep a just-in-time system that left us with very little extra to haul back.
So, I got to play craft show, J got to have fun at the craft show, and everything turned out marvelously well! Good times, good times!
Friday, May 02, 2008
Job
There has been some confluence of ideas coming up in what I read, be it Bible, blogs, or articles, and in my never-ending quest to sound profound (or at least less vapid) I thought I would inflict it on the poor, unsuspecting world. I realize this is something of a "duh" post, but it hit me anew, so y'all get it too.
One of the things that Job really talks about a lot is what God does for/to people. Most of Job's buddies stress that there must be sin in Job's life that God is punishing. Obviously they are shown wrong. Job was correct in that there was nothing in his life that "deserved" God's particular punishment in that way. He admitted that he was a sinner and that no one is righteous before God, but at the same time pointed out that there were thousands of others who were actively blaspheming and denying God, and God wasn't doing anything to punish them. Instead, those who worshiped God were visited with the same afflictions (and possibly more) as those who reviled and rejected God.
This is what everyone faces in a (usually) smaller scale - we get cancer, we're in car accidents, we lose children, our children reject God, etc. Along with Job, we acknowledge that we don't deserve a perfect life, but it still remains that those who love God face just as many troubles (if not more) than those who reject God.
Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar typify a lot of our approach to God. At least my attitude all too often. It comes down to - bad things happen because we fail God, good things happen because we serve God. Listen to Benny Hinn, T.D. Jakes, Paula White (or better yet, DON'T!) and that's the repeated mantra - if you will give money (through the preacher, of course) God will bless you. Other groups tend to focus more on the other side of the coin - IBLP and ATI. If you don't follow the rules, then you'll receive punishment. They even take it a step further and say that bad things in your life (kids rebelling, health problems, etc.) happen because you've failed in someway - you've held something back from God, you've given Satan a fortress in your life, you've not followed some of God's commands properly.
Job is the broad-scale rebuttal of such nonsense. Things may happen because of God's punishment or reward, but Job (the whole book) speaks very clearly that God doesn't act in a tit-for-tat sort of way.
Does that seem to stop me from behaving that way all too often? Nah. I suspect that it's one of those things that have to be drilled into a person over and over. A tit-for-tat sort of behavior is easy to understand, and can even give a comfort of sorts. But, it leaves people stunted in their lives and relationship with God.
I know that one of these days I'll run into some sort of hardship. While I'm the luckiest man in the world because I got the most wonderful wife in the world, I don't think my luck will take care of absolutely everything. We'll see if I can remember this post if some day my kids get into drugs or C dies in a car accident.
Bro, fold me into a pretzel and whap my face on the ground if I start going "I served God, so this shouldn't be happening!" Actually, I suspect I'll more likely put on a slightly different spin - more along the lines of a "Fine! I'm out of here since you didn't save me!" sort of reaction. Bro, you're welcome to do the whole pretzel-whap thing if I start something like that. They're rooted in the same attitude, just different expressions.
Hopefully you won't have to, but just in case. Make sure you keep up your Akido so you can make it a good and painful lock.
One of the things that Job really talks about a lot is what God does for/to people. Most of Job's buddies stress that there must be sin in Job's life that God is punishing. Obviously they are shown wrong. Job was correct in that there was nothing in his life that "deserved" God's particular punishment in that way. He admitted that he was a sinner and that no one is righteous before God, but at the same time pointed out that there were thousands of others who were actively blaspheming and denying God, and God wasn't doing anything to punish them. Instead, those who worshiped God were visited with the same afflictions (and possibly more) as those who reviled and rejected God.
This is what everyone faces in a (usually) smaller scale - we get cancer, we're in car accidents, we lose children, our children reject God, etc. Along with Job, we acknowledge that we don't deserve a perfect life, but it still remains that those who love God face just as many troubles (if not more) than those who reject God.
Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar typify a lot of our approach to God. At least my attitude all too often. It comes down to - bad things happen because we fail God, good things happen because we serve God. Listen to Benny Hinn, T.D. Jakes, Paula White (or better yet, DON'T!) and that's the repeated mantra - if you will give money (through the preacher, of course) God will bless you. Other groups tend to focus more on the other side of the coin - IBLP and ATI. If you don't follow the rules, then you'll receive punishment. They even take it a step further and say that bad things in your life (kids rebelling, health problems, etc.) happen because you've failed in someway - you've held something back from God, you've given Satan a fortress in your life, you've not followed some of God's commands properly.
Job is the broad-scale rebuttal of such nonsense. Things may happen because of God's punishment or reward, but Job (the whole book) speaks very clearly that God doesn't act in a tit-for-tat sort of way.
Does that seem to stop me from behaving that way all too often? Nah. I suspect that it's one of those things that have to be drilled into a person over and over. A tit-for-tat sort of behavior is easy to understand, and can even give a comfort of sorts. But, it leaves people stunted in their lives and relationship with God.
I know that one of these days I'll run into some sort of hardship. While I'm the luckiest man in the world because I got the most wonderful wife in the world, I don't think my luck will take care of absolutely everything. We'll see if I can remember this post if some day my kids get into drugs or C dies in a car accident.
Bro, fold me into a pretzel and whap my face on the ground if I start going "I served God, so this shouldn't be happening!" Actually, I suspect I'll more likely put on a slightly different spin - more along the lines of a "Fine! I'm out of here since you didn't save me!" sort of reaction. Bro, you're welcome to do the whole pretzel-whap thing if I start something like that. They're rooted in the same attitude, just different expressions.
Hopefully you won't have to, but just in case. Make sure you keep up your Akido so you can make it a good and painful lock.
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