Merry Xmas

Merry Christmas to all!
snowman
Originally uploaded by BRNFRRR

Explore. Dream. Discover.

of sailboat & sunset...
Originally uploaded by MalNino

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did so:

Throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Mark Twain

I saw this quote and just had to post it.

Tractor Trailer U-Turns

Wow!  I just watched a tractor trailer make a u-turn where most people have trouble in a normal car. I was thinking that this would make a great blog entry but when I started to dig into the technical details it started to get pretty muddy.

First off, I needed to figure out how wide the road was. Short of getting out and measuring it, I turned to the Internet. The road was a 4-lane road with a concrete curb median (so, 2 lanes in each direction). The State of Maryland lists the standard lane width for a state road under 40 mph as 11 feet (with an absolute minimum of 10 feet). Now, the road I was on was a ring road around Frederick Mall, probably not a state maintained road, but it gets me close. No fire lanes, so from curb to curb 44 feet at best. 

Back to the Internet. TruckersReport.com has diagrams for a standard truck (69 feet long) and how wide the road should be to achieve a certain radius turn. According to this website, the minimum road width requirement for a 180 degree turn is 33 feet. 

Given all of this information, the truck had 11 feet to spare taking into account all four lanes, but he needed to avoid the concrete curb in the median - something that he managed to accomplish. 

Do you think all of this went through his head before he made the u-turn? I don't think so. I suspect he accidentally turned down this mall road and realized that he didn't want to be there.  He took the first opportunity to turn around - happened to be in the middle of an intersection - and pulled it off like a pro. I suspect he just got lucky. 

The 180 degree turn radius below is the one that I am interested in. 

Vertex ... Vertices

The use of the singular or plural of the word VERTEX is a common problem around my industry. We deal with vertices all the time when creating and manipulating GIS products. 

I understand that the English language rule is a little obtuse, but it really is quite simple. One vertex: VERTEX. More than one vertex: VERTICES.

It really grates my last nerve when I hear it's misuse in technical conversation as often as I do. Colleagues and non-colleagues alike use the plural form without the 's' when they intend to use the singular form.  What's more, it is actually acceptable to say VERTEXES for the plural form - which should simplify the matter, but most do not choose to take that opportunity.

I can excuse the misuse if it is occasional, but it happens all the time. 

ALL THE TIME

THE Glenlivet

Ever notice that there is a "The" affixed to Glenlivet on the bottle?  Ever wonder why this is the case?

Did you know that The Glenlivet is the most sold single malt scotch in the US and the 2nd most sold single malt scotch in the world? In their advertising, The Glenlivet, claim to be the scotch that started it all. 

The Glenlivet is named after the geographic region of it's production - the Glenlivet Parish, near Moray, Scotland. It is the oldest legal distillery in that area, having been in continuous operation since 1824. It did close only briefly during WWII.

But why should it be named so?

Well, in 1871, when George Smith (the distillery's owner) died and left his very successful business to his son, John Gordon Smith, other distilleries in the area tried to profit from the name and Glenlivet's high quality product.  These other distillers started naming their distilleries Glenlivet as well.  John Gordon Smith attempted legal action claiming rights to the Glenlivet name. Unfortunately, they were only partially suscessful. Other distillers could still hyphenate the Glenlivet name (presumably because the name was also a geographic entity). 

So, the name of the Glenlivet distillery became The Glenlivet, emphasizing, I suppose, their originality. 

Source: for the most part Wikipedia

How did the Head get it's name?

The toilet on a sailing vessel is called the head, but how did it get it's name?

What you may not know is unlike modern sailing vessels, the big sailing vessels of the past - because of the way they were rigged - could only sail with the wind. In other words, the wind must be behind them.

It was not until the invention of modern rigging that sailors could sail in almost any direction, except directly into the wind. In fact, out of 360 degrees, only 60-100 degrees of direction are not sailable in modern sailing vessels, as there would not be enough wind in the sails for forward progress to outweigh the pushback from the wind. This area of water directly into the wind (the red wedge shown below or A and B) is called the No Go Zone. Given this diagram, I would presume the only direction the older rigged sailing vessels could sail would be the 60-100 degrees in the D and E direction. 

 Points of sail for modern sailing vessels

So back to why the head is named the head. Well, as you can imagine the head of a sailing vessel could get pretty stinky. In their ultimate wisdom, ship designers put this area down-wind and as far away from other areas as they could, thus because of their direction of travel ... At the head of the ship.

The other benefit to this location was, because the head would empty directly to the sea, the chutes were regularly cleansed by sea-water that washed up into the openings while the ship was at sea. 

I wonder

Do cows get hiccups?

Insightful

Source: Superherostuff.com via Facebook

I originally spotted this on a freind's Facebook post and thought it worthy of a post to the blog as well. I find it fascinating that this particular algorithm puts Santa as the perfect intersection of God and Spider Man. With great power comes great responsibility. So true. 

For you Star Wars geeks out there ...

R2D2 Translator

http://www.r2d2translator.com/

I believed for a long time (actually, until tonight when I looked it up on The Fount of All Knowledge) that R2D2 was controlled in the original Star Wars movies by a monkey. I guess somebody told me that once and I never took the time to confirm it. Anyway, Wikipedia says that Kenny Baker was inside one of the two units In the original films.  Small yes, but not a monkey. The other unit was a remote controlled version. Interestingly, Kenny Baker acted in some part in all 6 of the Star Wars films, including one role as the Ewok that stole the speeder bike in Return of the Jedi. 

I am fairly certain however that he did not and does not speak R2D2, even though many characters in the film seemed to understand R2 just fine. 

Lips That Touch Liquor ...

From a friend in email today.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

If you were around in 1919 and came upon the following poster

I mean, seriously

Wouldn't you just keep drinking?

Handling Emotions When Dealing with Difficult People

So I took a class today on the above title. It was all about "Me Do". Basically, their point was like the famous quote - "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.". All well and good and I will try their strategies. But although it goes against my normally logical attitude, I still don't see why "difficult" people just get to continue to be difficult while the rest of us have to strategize on how to deal with them. I admit though, you can't change others, you can only change yourself. We'll see how I do.

Hector Zazou

I was just listening to a song from this album named "Indiana Moon (with Lisa Germano)". What an interesting song. I wonder if the entire album is as eclectic as this song.

If you go here, you can listen to a :30 preview of the song on Last.FM.

The International Rules of Manhood

I got these from a friend today. Most seem to be true.

* * * * * * * * * *

- Under no circumstances may two men share an umbrella.

- It is OK for a man to cry ONLY under the following circumstances: (a) when a heroic dog dies to save its master; (b) after wrecking his boss's car; or (c) one hour, twelve minutes, thirty-seven seconds into "The Crying Game."

- Any man who brings a camera to a bachelor party may be legally killed and eaten by his buddies.

- Unless he murdered someone in your family, you must bail a friend out of jail within twelve hours.

- If you've known a guy for more than twenty-four hours, his sister is off limits forever unless you actually marry her.

- Moaning about the brand of free beer in a buddy's fridge is forbidden. However, complain at will if the temperature is unsuitable.

- No man shall ever be required to buy a birthday present for another man. In fact, even remembering his buddy's birthday is strictly optional. At that point, he must celebrate at a bar of the birthday boy's choice.

- On a road trip, the strongest bladder determines pit stops, not the weakest.

- When stumbling upon other guys watching a sporting event, you may ask the score of the game in progress, but you may never ask who's playing.

- It is permissible to drink a fruity alcohol drink only when you're sunning on a tropical beach, it's delivered by a gorgeous woman, and it's free.

- Only in situations of moral and/or physical peril are you allowed to kick another guy.

- Friends don't let friends wear Speedos. Ever. Issue closed.

- If a man's fly is down, that's his problem; you didn't see anything.

- Women who claim they "love to watch sports" must be treated as spies until they demonstrate knowledge of the game and the ability to drink as much as the other sports watchers.

- A man in the company of an extremely attractive woman must remain sober enough to fight.

- Never hesitate to reach for the last beer or the last slice of pizza, but not both. That's just greedy.

- Never join your girlfriend or wife in discussing a friend of yours.

- It is acceptable for you to drive her car. It is not acceptable for her to drive yours.

- Thou shalt not buy a car in the colors of brown, pink, lime green, orange, or sky blue.

- The woman who replies to the question "What do you want for Christmas?" with "If you loved me, you'd know what I want!" gets a PS3. End of story.

- There is no reason for guys to watch ice skating or men's gymnastics. Ever.

Karma +1

While I was out at lunch today, I stopped an accident from happening. I was in a parking lot and two cars were backing out of a space at the same time. I was driving down the row in my car - having just come from lunch. The cars backing out were moving quite slowly, so I thought that one would probably see the other, but they kept getting closer and closer, so I eventually blew my horn to warn of the impending collision.

By the way, I love the horn on my Mini. It's not one of those whiny horns like so many foreign cars get, it has a good 'old American horn that is nice and loud.

Anyway, I blew my horn and the cars stopped. I was maybe 25 feet away from the scene. One of the drivers then leaned on his horn and drove off. He probably thought that the other car blew the horn at him. Crisis averted. I hope they appreciate my good will.

Great game!

We may have lost but we were in it until the very last by forcing overtime. Can't believe Gano missed two field goals. And it didn't start raining till we reached the car. Now if we can just get through traffic to home.

Redskins vs Cowboys

Redskins vs Cowboys today at FedEx Field:
Pam and I stopped at Sheetz for some breakfast before heading down to the game and who else should we see at Sheetz but two Cowboys fans. And ... Wouldn't you know it ... We pulled out of the parking lot at exactly the same time.

Traffic on the DC beltway was unexpectedly perfect today. Hardly any stop and go, so as a result the Cowbys car and our car (the Redskins car - the true fans) jockeyed back and forth (in a friendly manner) to see who could get to the stadium first.

Pam and I joked that if one of us got a speeding ticket, it could be an "Ineligible Man Down Field" or if we saw an accident it could be an "Injured Player on the Field". We were however hoping there would be no "Unnecessary Roughness" calls against either of us.

Unfortunately, we lost track of them in the rush to the various parking lots, so we will never know. But, I think the Redskins are gonna win this game. One can only dream.

GO REDSKINS!!!

Namibia

Reading an article in TRVL magazine this morning, I learned that Namibia is one of the world's LEAST populated countries. Wide open spaces allow for amazing natural phenomenon and many wild animals. Given this and the affable population makes it one of Africa's most beautiful and friendly places to visit.

What Did Van Learn Today? ... Circumnavigation

From a book I am reading entitled "Around the World Sailing Guide":


I WISH I had that much time to travel ... To spend as much time as I pleased ... And not a care in the world.

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What Did Van Learn Today? ... Pluviosity

Pluviosity means rainfall. Why not just say "rainfall"?

http://www.wordnik.com/words/pluviosity


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What Did Van Learn Today? ... Philosophy

Discussing philosophical concepts with a work colleague is fun and sometimes challenging.

I have heard that there are two things you should never discuss with people you work with [1] Religion and [2] Politics. Does Philosophy fit into one of those categories?

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What Did Van Learn Today? ... Hayflick Limit

Ever heard of the Hayflick Limit? I hadn't, until I watched a B-movie the other night on the SyFy channel named "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid". The premise of the movie was that they had found this flower in Borneo called a blood orchid that contained a naturally occurring chemical that was able to "work around" the Hayflick Limit. So of course they set out in search of this orchid and - given the nature of the movie - almost everyone in the movie died in the process.


What's the Hayflick Limit you ask?

The Hayflick Limit is a theory that human cells only have the ability to reproduce 40-60 times. Once the limit is reached, cell replication stops. It has been theorized that this is why people die.

So, you can imagine that if a chemical was found in the blood orchid that would work around this limit, there would be a lot of people in the scientific community clamoring to obtain it. It would be marketed as a fountain of youth and would probably be very expensive.



Well, back in reality, there is some serious interest in this theory. The limit is apparently directly linked to telomeres found at the end of our DNA strands. Every time a cell replicates, its associated telomeres are shortened by a fraction. Theoretically once your telomeres reach a certain length, this is what controls the life or death of a cell.

Interestingly, cancer cells have the ability to lengthen telomeres. Cancer cells turn on an enzyme called telomerase which rather than shorten telomeres actually lengthens them - essentially having the effect of making them "immortal". Scientists are now looking into the possibility of using this enzyme to extend life.

It's interesting what you can learn from cheesy movies.

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What Did Van Learn Today? ... Getting good karma is not always welcomed

Whenever I see a praying mantis in distress I usually take the opportunity to help the poor little guy out. At the ballpark one day, I saved one from a couple of curious kids that only wanted to abuse it. I picked it up and dropped it over the fence where they couldn't get to it.

Praying mantises are cute little creatures that are relatively harmless and, in fact, protected by federal law, due their endangered status.


So, yesterday I found one crawling around on the outside of my car. The trouble was that I had already driven away and by the time I saw it, I was getting ready to get on the highway. I said to myself - "self," he is not going to survive at highway speeds. And besides, he was looking in the window at me as if he was asking for help. Anyway, I pulled over as soon as I could and he was still on my window, so I reached out my hand to help him off the car. I'll tell you, I don't think he wanted any help. He jumped off my car quicker than lightning - luckily into the grass and not into traffic.

Karma: +1

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What did Van learn today?

There apparently is a difference between chiggers and jiggers. Jiggers are the ones that burrow into your skin. Chiggers do not, but they do bite. Jiggers are only found in the tropical regions. Chiggers are found in cooler regions - like in the US.


Both blemishes itch.

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What Did Van Learn Today?

I learned that in June of 1942, there was, what we would now call a terrorist attack, in Washington DC, orchestrated by the Nazi party.

Operation Pastorius was a failed plan for sabotage via a series of attacks by Nazi German agents inside the United States. The operation was named by Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, chief of the German Abwehr, for Francis Daniel Pastorius, the leader of the first organized settlement of Germans in America.

The plan was fairly complex as it involved sabotage on major industrial and economic targets throughout the US, including hydroelectric plants at Niagara Falls and aluminum plants in Illinois, Tennessee and New York. Two German-American citizens were involved, as well as 6 others who would arrive on shore via two different U-boats.

While there were many failures in the plot, the scheme was ultimately foiled by a would-be defector (George John Dasch), who turned himself in and revealed the whole plan to the authorities.

This operation was ultimately unsuccessful and those involved were executed, or in the case of the two conspirators who cooperated with the authorities, returned to Germany six years later in 1948.

You can read more about this on Wikipedia.

So ... How did I come to be reading about this tidbit of history?

Well, I was looking up the definition of "potter's field". Wikipedia listed the location of where the six executed conspirators were buried as a potter's field. Basically, a potter's field is where deceased persons of a certain class or economic situation, warranting segregation from the general populous, might be interred.

As it turns out, the location where the six conspirators were buried was in Blue Plains, near Ferry Point, on the Anacostia River, in what is now Oxon Hill Farm (an interactive farm - mostly for kids - managed by the National Park Service. One source, dated July 2008, mentions that there is a marker at the burial site (erected by the American Nazi Party), but that it is very difficult to find. That is something I would like to try to find.

Try to learn something new every day.

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For American Distillers, a Whi... (theatlantic.com)

For American Distillers, a Whiskey Crisis Looms on the Horizon
http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/07/for-american-distillers-a-whiskey-crisis-looms-on-the-horizon/242699/

---
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Available for free in the App Store.
www.zite.com

Sent from my iPad

Key Bridge - Baltimore - An interesting little bit of history.

Key Bridge - Baltimore
Originally uploaded by 1Sock

Looking north from our cruise ship as we passed under the Key Bridge. The key bridge carries the beltway (I-695) across the Patapsco River to complete the circuitous route around the city of Baltimore, Maryland. The bridge was opened in March 1977 and is named for the author of the Star Spangled Banner, Francis Scott Key. History scholars believe the span crosses within 100 yards (91 m) of the site, marked in the water off the bridge by a stars and striped painted buoy, where Francis Scott Key witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry on the evening of September 12, 1814.

The span is 1,200 feet (366 m) long and carries an estimated 11.5 million vehicles annually. It is a long span steel truss bridge with a suspended deck. The structure combines the behaviors of an arch, truss and cantilever. With no expansion joints, this bridge (at the time of this writing) is the second longest continuous steel truss bridge in the United States and the third longest in the world.

More information about this bridge can be found on Wikipedia and An Engineer's Guide to Baltimore.

Mavi

Mavi
Originally uploaded by pamramsey

Per a suggestion from my good friend Eneida, Pam and I tried Mavi when we were in San Juan, PR. I asked the waiter at the restaurant if they had it and unfortunately he said no, but he did confirm that it was a local drink and that I could probably find some at one of the restaurants down near the port.

Well, while we did see it elsewhere before getting back on our cruise ship, the stand in this picture is the first place we saw it. Pam didn't like it so much, so as it turned out, I drank hers and mine.

For those out of the know: Mavi is a tree bark-based beverage grown, and widely consumed, in the Caribbean. It is made with sugar and the bark and/or fruit of certain species in the Colubrina genus including Colubrina elliptica (also called behuco indio) and Colubrina arborescens, a small tree native to the northern Caribbean and south Florida. Its taste is initially sweet, somewhat like root beer, but changes to a prolonged, but not astringent bitter aftertaste.

What Sweetens Toothpaste?

Today, I called to reschedule a dentist appointment that I would have had to miss for being on vacation. Oddly, the office had had two cancellations today and so they were able to fit me in today (within 2 hours of my call). That's Frederick for you. We have lots of medical professionals and - I guess - not as many patients to go around. It is much easier to get into see a doctor in Frederick than it was when I lived in Alexandria, VA.


Anyway ... I was sitting in the chair and I asked the dentist something that I had personally been curious about for a while. What do the toothpaste companies use to sweeten their product? Surely, it must not be sugar, since dentists have always said how bad it is for your teeth. I have looked on toothpaste tubes at home for the ingredients, but I guess since it is not a food product, there is no requirement to reveal the ingredients. They do often go out of their way to tell you that it contains fluoride, however.

The dentist had no answer for me, though she was reasonably sure that they use some form of artificial sweetener. It seems to me that this should be disclosed. What if you are allergic to whatever they are using?

It turns out there is quite a lot in toothpaste. Wikipedia lists toothpaste as potentially having: Abrasives, Fluorides, Surfactants, Antibacterial agents, Flavorants, Remineralizers and Miscellaneous components (which can include: glycerol, sorbitol, xylitol, or related derivatives, such as 1,2-propylene glycol and polyethyleneglycol). I would assume from the names of those last ingredients that those are the sweeteners.

So there you have it. Maybe it's possible that the reason they don't list the ingredients is because there is no room on the tube!

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Trying to blog from my iPad

You may have noticed that I don't blog very much. This is mostly due to the fact that when I get home at night I feel more like playing games or doing some other leisurely activity then anything serious. Writing falls into that "serious" category. So ... I thought I would give this a shot. I downloaded this cool app for my iPad that allows me to compose a blog - say, while my computer is processing or when I have more energy at lunch. I can save drafts to work on it later, post pictures from my iPad photo gallery and do special formatting, things I could not do as easily through an email post.

So, here ya go. Here's a picture from my iPad that I downloaded from a science article I read elsewhere (credit goes to ElectronCafe). I liked it so much, I made it my main page on my iPad.






It illustrates the true nature of science versus the public perception of science as seen through for example MythBusters.

So long for now.

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Why do we Americans focus so much on the food?

Lingering after a hearty breakfast at our local Mimi's, Pam and I were musing on the idea that American's seem to always be rushed through even the nicer of eating establishments. There is little time for socializing. The food comes to the table quicker than lightening. We gobble it up. Pay the bill and leave.

Personally, I think it would be nicer if the restaurant staff would take their time bringing the food. Now, I am not saying that they should be slow. Slow service can be quite painful. In fact, I believe that they should still be available for more coffee or soda or wine or what have you, but they should not be hovering either. It's a fine line really.

The food, on the other hand, should be slower to arrive. If I am going to take time to come into a restaurant, park the car and walk in through the rain - yes, it happens to be raining today - then I would want my time in their service to be a little more relaxed and not so rushed.

It reminds me of a time when we were out with my parents at a small restaurant in Little Italy in Baltimore. We had lingered too long after a fantastic meal, talking and whatnot, when the manager finally comes over and says, "We love you, but we would like to have the table". While I can understand their need to serve more people, it seemed a little rude to me. Maybe if we had ordered more wine - or a big bottle of champagne - to justify their time. But as it is, we got up and left.

So Mimi's was fast with their service and their food today, but we have yet to be kicked out. There are plenty of open tables. They have already taken the check (with the tip), but I'll save that for another rant.