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.