Canobie Lake Park - Turkish Twist

Every year P&G has "dividend day" where we take over the local amusement park. Only King's Island is more like a 6 Flags - so there are tons of roller coasters.

I remember growing up and Mom & Dad would take us to Digital Day at Canobie Lake Park - which is a little boot leg. From what I remember it is closest to Coney Island in Cincinnati only it looked like that in 1984. What is even more bootleg is I heard recently that Gillette STILL takes their employees there. I can;t image how much rust is on top of the rust we saw when we were there.

Anyways - here is one of my favorite rides from Canobie Lake Park - the Turkish Twist.
You are in a little tiny room that spins around as you lean against the carpeted wall. Eventually the ride is going fast enough that the floor can drop away! Pretty cool!

Remote Controls

When your team has the best record in the NFL and you have DirecTV - good things happen, like my new remote control!

Musical Memories - The Opera

Just because even after 12 years I think my own writing is funny - and I am the author and editor of this blog - I am posting my Sophomore year report on the New York City Opera's performance of Daughter of the Regiment. This was inspired by my last blog on Hilary Hahn.

Now before you read this - you must know that in real life I had seen an Opera before this 1998 paper (we saw Phantom in Toronto), however since classes outside of my Chemical Engineering Major often didn't get too much of my attention - I developed techniques for these "Gen-Eds". If you are taking a class about performance art - pretend you have never seen such a thing before and that the teacher has just opened up a new world for you (then they feel like they are doing their job). That's how you get an "A" in a class you spend almost no time on.

Without further adieu...

New York City Opera: The Daughter of the Regiment

For lively arts this semester I have seen the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and the play Marisol. So after a concert and a play I knew the next thing I would have to see would be an opera. Why not, after a little music, a stage show its about time I saw a singing production. Of course it was to my complete surprise that the New York City Opera was more than just singing, it was practically a concert, a play and tremendous singing all rolled up into one with a little comedy on the side.

The opera began with a sunrise over a small village. There was nobody on stage and only the orchestra to entertain us. It would be difficult not to notice the orchestra because they played for what seemed like an hour but was probably only 10 minutes without anyone taking the stage. My first thought was, “Where’s the Opera?” but the orchestra was actually very good and made the time quite pleasant. Unlike the symphony orchestra though, this orchestra was not the center of attention, and in fact I couldn’t even tell you how large it was for I could not see them. Regardless I was impressed not only with their music but with the way it enhanced the action on stage. I imagined them playing music like you would hear for Tom and Jerry or Mickey Mouse cartoons, it was music for theater not music for listening. The orchestra did a great job and made the opera much more enjoyable than I thought an opera would be.

The opera involved a lot more acting then I imagined an opera would. I mean it was by no means a play, but I guess I thought an opera was a couple of people standing around singing to one another. Of course this was not true. There were often times a huge cast of stage at once acting, running around and singing together. Some of the best scenes involved the entire regiment singing together acting out either a dinner scene or the like. I also had the stereotype that the performers would be in outlandish costumes with spears and helmets with horns. This stereotype, of course, was also not true. The costumes were actually quite normal for a play. I didn’t find them distracting in the least unlike the Viking outfits I had imagined would be used. The opera also had a plot or story and was easy to follow. I imagined people standing around telling a story about what had happened to one another in series after series of monologues. In the daughter of the regiment, the performers interacted and we saw the story take place right before us. My eyes were definitely opened to what an opera really is and how similar it is to a play.

An opera wouldn’t be an opera without singing, and the singing was great. It took some time to get used to how they sang. The entire thing was in French, but I know a little French and that wasn’t the problem. Often times in the beginning I thought maybe they were just singing nonsense words at times. Later when I got used to how they sang I could understand more of the French and follow it a lot better. I was interested to see that for those not fluent in French, and I by no means am one of those people, there was screen above the stage translating the basic idea of what they were saying. When I heard about this I thought it would be distracting, because I hate movies with subtitles. But because the opera involves so much singing I guess, not a lot is said at one time and I found it easy to follow along with the translation but not be distracted. I was still able to enjoy the stage performances and know what was going on.

Finally, the real shock, even more surprising than the fact that I enjoyed the opera, was the fact that it was funny. I never even put the words humor and opera in the same sentence before. This opera was really funny. From the dialogue to the stage jokes, like the sheets of music being thrown around, right down to the silly little houses that made everyone look like giants, the opera was laugh after laugh. I don’t know if this is typical in operas, but it definitely gave me a new vision of what an opera could be. It really is more entertainment than just some people standing around singing. The singing was great and the performers had impressive voices and dynamics, but the opera was a much more complete package of music, theater and humor.

I enjoyed the opera, and although I may still be reluctant to attend one over a baseball game, I now know that it is not only bearable to sit through, but very much enjoyable. There were so many different aspects to performance art that went into the opera that I had never thought of before until I saw the Daughter of the Regiment by the New York City Opera Company.

Re-reading this after ~12 years my favorite quote is "Where's the Opera?"

Musical Memories - Hilary Hahn

In honor of Dale's concert this weekend - a violin story!

During my Sophomore year at UMass I took a "Gen-Ed" class to fulfill some of the breadth of learning requirements. The class this specific semester was called "The Lively Arts" which required the students to talk about all sorts of performing arts and their backgrounds as well as to attend many of the performances on campus and write some detailed report about the "Arts".

For class I attended (on campus for $5 each):

• The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
• Gary Louie (Saxophonist)
• Art Farmer (Trumpet)
• The UMass Jazz band
• The New York City Opera: The Daughter of the Regiment
• Stomp
• Tap Dogs
• Twyla Tharp Dance Troupe
• The Play: Marisol by a campus group
• Cynthia Elbaum Art Exhibit (on War)

Why any of this popped to my mind was because I was browsing iTunes for some violin pieces when Hilary Hahn kept popping up. I recalled seeing her perform with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchesta at UMass when she was 17. She had been performing with major Orchestras since she was 12. I also remember attending the concert with my girlfriend at the time Katharine who was also in the class. I remember that she was surprisingly jealous when she read my paper on the Orchestra (but that is another story altogether). I don't think there is anything "juicy" in here - but it is fun to see what my honest opinion was when I first saw Hilary Hahn. It would be funny if I went and saw some art work by a now famous artist and wrote about how awful it was.

Here it is today the section of my paper on Hilary Hahn unedited from 12 years ago - any grammatical errors are likely due to the fact that it was a Gen-Ed and didn't command much attention - and the fact that I often don't care about such things.

A Night at the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra (2/11/98)

I was trying to find my seat in the concert hall, and if it wasn’t bad enough that I was on the even side with an odd numbered seat, the orchestra was tuning and warming up so their chaotic bedlam of sounds was adding to my frustration. But when I was finally settled I noticed the well dressed men in tuxedos and how uniform they looked. The women too were dressed well individually, but there seemed to be no uniform for women, so they were all wearing various black outfits. Two women had their purses hanging over their chairs, while several others sat on cushions and one man had a back rest strapped to his chair. But by the time the warming up was completed, these distractions were forgotten...

...The second piece, Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 19 was in great contrast to the symphonies. First of all, a young, gorgeous violin soloist in a well shaped dress and sparkly blouse came out on stage. She stood out not only in her beauty but in her contrasting age to everyone else in the orchestra. She was "only" 17, but her age has little meaning at this point because she has done and seen more as a musician in her 17 years than I can imagine. She stood in front of the orchestra, a sharp figure in the sea of sitting, motionless adults. She was amazing to watch. She swayed with the music, seemingly oblivious to anyone or anything around her, except for the occasional glance at the conductor. My mind was unable to wander like it had for the symphony, young violin soloist Hilary Hahn demanded my complete attention. She played at a feverish pace, passing melodies back and forth with the orchestra. She displayed her proficiency on the violin very well, utilizing plucking techniques as well as playing two notes at the same time. She stole the show and she knew it. After three or four ovations, she played an encore solo. As she announced the piece, her delicate little voice did not fit her masterful musical performance. She is the type of prodigy you almost feel sorry for because you know she is hated by all the competitive violinists in the orchestra who have dedicated years of their lives to the violin - only to sit there quietly behind the young star.

What can I say I call them as I see them. I'd pretty much forgotten about her since - it would be neat to think I saw Hilary Hahn before she became famous but I am pretty sure she was already a recording artist by then. The next year she was nominated for a Grammy: Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra. It is funny now seeing her name all over the place on iTunes to say I saw her when...

Besides this is a little better story than my brush with Bud Bundy from Married with Children in an elevator in Vegas. (Side note I also rode in an elevator in the Vernon Manor with Nick Lachey when he was with the band 98 Degrees - "it's not that hot in here" was the joke of the evening).

Twitter + Random Thought

Twitter is a good idea because sometimes I want to say stuff that is too short to warrant a blog, like:

"Ugly Betty is so Ugly it hurts!"

Which reminds me of this blog-tweet I had today:

"I'm writing a new book about relationships - but from the man's perspective! It's called Men are from Mars and Women aren't from Mars."

In there is the fact that men get men and don't get women and we don't know enough to know what planet they come from, just that it isn't Mars.

I have to get up for work in 4 hours - gotta sleep fast!

Fun (or Weird) Facts about Me

I had this as a draft blog for a while and have been adding to it here and there - but since Karen wrote about how she does weird things, I figured it's time to publish even though I will remember something as soon as I put this up.

- I don't like shots or needles (unless they are in the mouth in which case it doesn't bother me. I would rather that than to have blood drawn)
- Related to the last one... I don't like bees
- I also don't like sharp things like large knives or razors (I use an electric shaver)
- I don't like open flame or warm ovens
- I love to read - almost exclusively non-fiction
- I don't like drawers or closets, I need to see everything (plus I hate hangers)
- I don't like jeans or tight clothing - I love Hawaiian shirts
- I take luke-warm showers because I have sensitive skin to heat
- I wash my hands with soap in cold water almost exclusively
- I still occasionally wake up at night thinking I am shaking like the earthquake a few months back
- I am super light-sensitive and constantly wear sunglasses when outdoors regardless of season or overcast conditions. If I don't wear sunglasss my eyes actually feel pain from light.
- I don't like char on my food - it makes me sick within an hour
- I don't like spicy foods, including pepper
- I don't like to have anything hang on the wall above my head when I sleep
- I have used the same deodorant for 10+ years but still smell it everytime before putting it on (not sure what I am checking for... it hasn't changed)

Mind over matter section:
- Ever since running into the fence in softball and getting a concussion - I look over my shoulder after positioning myself between batters and tell myself "plenty of room to run" at Ross park. When a ball is hit over my head I initially think I am about to hit a fence but I have mentally overcome letting it affect my ability to go get a ball (but it took a season to do it)
- I expect to catch every ball hit in the air to me in the outfield
- I expect to get on base every at bat in softball and only count how many times I get out per game

Pain, Cheating, and Economics

This was a fascinating talk from TED.com and really does make you question how we as a country can move forward when so many people refuse to think outside the box or try any system outside of their own comfort zone.

Behavioral economist Dan Ariely studies the bugs in our moral code: the hidden reasons we think it's OK to cheat or steal (sometimes). Clever studies help make his point that we're predictably irrational -- and can be influenced in ways we can't grasp.

A Few Quick Hot Topics

I could probably write a blog on each of these but they are piling up too fast. So here's some flotsam and jetsam from the top of my head.

1) Giants WR Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg at a NY night club while carrying a concealed weapon. Apparently he used to have a permit for this weapon in Florida (I thought I heard it had expired) AND NY doesn't allow concealed weapons so he is facing 2 felony weapons charges. Apparently NY also passed what they call the "P. Diddy" law which carries a mandatory 3.5 year sentence for felony weapons charges (I guess P. Diddy got out of serving time for similar charges and NY wasn't about to let it happen again). Now here's where I have a problem. Michael Vick was sentenced to almost 2 years for executing and torturing numerous dogs, not to mention the abuse to the remaining 47 dogs who were rescued (and he was at this for years). Vick was intentionally and purposefully torturing these animals for his sick pleasure - and he may serve 1/2 as much time as Plaxico Burress who is - in my opinion - just an idiot. I am much less concerned about having Plaxico Burress roaming the streets than I am about Vick. I think Michael Vick is sick in the head and unfeeling people like that are dangerous. Plaxico on the other hand probably isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer - but I believe he is less a menace to be roaming the streets.

2) From a great debate I heard on the way home on the radio - A 24 year single old woman was denied a prescription for birth control from her doctor because he ethically disagreed with her choice to engage in sex before marriage (never mind all of the other reasons to be on birth control including regulating periods and acne but that's not the point). The doctor actually went so far as to lecture her about her morals. Now I don't have an issue with the Doctor having a religious opinion on the matter but I do object to the patient not receiving LEGAL medical options available today because her Doctor disagreed with it. In fact - I think it is in some ways discrimination. I think it is fine for the Doctor NOT to chose that for himself, but his job is to provide care for his patients and I was surprised to hear that it was possible for him to basically be the judge on whether or not you should be allowed to use contraception. In fact - this month Bush is pushing for a bill in congress which would give Doctors MORE authority to be selective in their care of patients based on religious beliefs. Now you can see things get murky - I actually don't have an issue with a doctor choosing not to perform an abortion based on the Doctor's views - but to leave that off the table for a patient who is relying on a Doctor to understand all of their medical options seems wrong. I was unaware how much of an issue this was in doctors offices today. In fact - apparently doctors are not giving patients all of their possible legal choices for health care based on their religious beliefs, and as you can guess this includes not informing patients on their options for birth control, abortion, and end of life issues such as being removed from a ventilator etc. I think if a Doctor doesn't want to perform a vasectomy that's fine - but if they are actually knowingly withholding medical information about LEGAL options from their patients then they have gone too far and probably shouldn't be doctors. Imagine if someone refused to sell you a house because they disagreed with your country of origin. There are laws in place in real estate to prevent discrimination and it should be similar in medicine. If you are in a profession but disagree with available and LEGAL options I don't think you should be able to impose your views on others who are relying on you as a resource. What if your Doctor witheld chemotherapy options from your inoperable cancer and you didn't even know it was an option until it was too late and your Doctor let you die because their religion (maybe scientology) didn't believe in chemical fixes? It's maddness.

3) Big 3 Bailout. I say no. Here's why - it's an entire industry in the US that is not competitive because of cost structure and the only way to get out of archaic union contracts is in bankruptcy. By keeping the existing companies afloat as is - it only prolongs the misery. In fact - the only people the current employees of the Big 3 should be pissed at are all of the previous generations of big 3 employees who retired on fat pensions and were paid above market values for labor that was locked up in union contracts. If you see an industry with gross amounts of waste - people working less than market hours for guaranteed salaries and contracts retiring with huge benefits (that are now crippling the companies) - RUN, don't walk, away from that industry as a profession.

Poor use of statistics: Voter Turn Out edition

From an article about the high voter turn out expected this year:

McDonald said early voting is often a good prediction of the level of turnout on Election Day, and heavy early voting indicates that the turnout this year undoubtedly would exceed the 60 percent turnout in the 2004 election.

"We have a very good chance of beating the 64 percent turnout in the 1960 election," McDonald said. "We really could be looking at a historic election in modern American history."

That race saw the highest level of turnout in American history, save for the 66 percent in the 1908 presidential election.

Which bring up the point, why not just refer to the 1908 election as the record?

PS - I am the Home Run King in baseball - except for anyone who hit more home runs than me.

PPS - This is going to be a record positive year for the S&P 500 except for all of the years that actually were positive, and then exclude all of the "less negative years"

The most powerful force in ANY election

"Half of the American people never read a newspaper. Half never vote for president. One hopes it is the same half!" - Gore Vidal

We would like to think that as Americans we are intelligent enough to chose our own president. We believe we "know" what America needs and we understand the issues and where we want our country to go. I submit to you that the American Voting Public is a bunch of idiots. As you may recall from my previous blog - we continuously vote for people who will cut taxes when it is borderline immoral to do so and pass the expense of our national debt continuously on to future generations like a credit card we plan to pay off "someday".

So how will I prove that the American voting public is a bunch of idiots? I submit to you a thought experiment that regardless of the issues of the economy or a politicians stance on foreign affairs or how to win the war on terror - that the single most powerful force in ANY election is this hat.

This Seemingly innocent hat has more power than either political party, the "liberal media" or any number of swift-boat attacks. This hat can make the majority of the voting public change their stances on politicians.

I submit to you that regardless of the character of the politicians, their record, or their stance on the issues, whoever wears this hat for an entire campaign will lose. Every time. Let's look at the evidence. Would you vote for either of these two men?

Now this is a race even Nader could win (assuming he didn't wear the hat). It's a joke - really that our entire opinion of a politician could be based on such a superficial thing like a hat.

Now to get even deeper on you - maybe it's not a hat. Maybe the metaphorical hat is an African American (or bi-racial) candidate. Maybe the hat is a "strange" name like Barak. Or maybe the hat is a Catholic (JFK). Or maybe the hat is someone who is "an Arab" as that women at the McCain rally mentioned as to why she was so afraid of Obama. I think it is great that our country is almost at the point where we could have our first black (or bi-racial) president. Wouldn't it be an even greater testament to have a Muslim President soon as Campbell Brown discusses in her Commentary "So what if Obama were a Muslim or an Arab?"

So what? It scares me that ignorance has enough of a voice to make silly things like this an issue. And - in my humble opinion - for John McCain and Sarah Palin to even suggest that a US Senator such as Barak Obama is in any way a terrorist or sympathizes with terrorists is just fear mongering at it's worst. What's the implication? Does anyone really believe that once Barak Obama becomes President he will hand over America to terrorists? It's more than just irrational it's idiotic. Almost as idiotic as saying that if Sarah Palin became the VP, on her 1st day in office she would announce that her Husband is now the President of the independant country of Alaska (see Palin's Attack On Obama's Patriotism Legitimizes Questions About The Palins' Association With Group Founded By America-Hating Secessionist).

Nothing good ever happens on a Compound

So this weekend there was another headline in the news, "Arkansas Evangelist's compound raided". Which raises some good questions. Why didn't the town know something was wrong the day someone said they wanted to "start a compound".

If you are single, looking to pick up some girls - just try to ask them to come home to your compound - see what happens.

If you are looking to build a house - and blue prints for a compound show up - you might want to think again.

If your realtor invites you to an "open house" on a compound - get a new realtor.

If you get a phone call from the parents of your children's friends - asking if your children could come over for a "play date" and their address ends with the word "compound" - you might want to reconsider.

If you ARE a compound - consider changing your name to estate, facility, union hall, or congregation. It's just good Public Relations.

More Political Outrage

If you are paying attention - you need to be outraged by this election. I am sick sick sick of hearing politicians running on platforms of tax cuts. You know why? It's a gimmick that works because most Americans are either 1) too dumb to figure it out or 2) too selfish to care about the consequences of continuing our tax cuts. I am all for getting government spending in check and cutting out the "pork" - however ignore all of that because it is too small to matter. We are on a path where by 2030 ALL taxes collected at our current rate won't cover mandatory (non-discretionary) spending (Some estimates put it closer to 2044 before this occurs - but does it really matter? It's bleak!).





This means if we want to keep Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid dolling out the same benefits as we are today, we won't have any money left over for ANYTHING ELSE in 2044. We won't have money left over from taxes collected for a military, education, interest on our mounting debts, we won't have money for ridiculous government bail-outs, NASA, transportation & infrastructure (want a bridge repaired in the next 50 years? Even if it goes to nowhere?), unemployment benefits, congressional salaries and perks, etc. In my opinion we need to step up and say "we F-ed up our calculations" and start cutting social security benefits - but imagine running on a platform of taking money away from retired seniors!

Our government is running a company that brings in 2.4 Trillion dollars per year (that's $2,400,000,000,000.00) and they can't figure out how to balance the budget. Forget about AIG - Someone ought to bail out the United States! And I am paying into social security (and P&G is matching it) and all of that money is being spent by the government instead of being put aside for my retirement. You may have heard that our national debt is now over 9 trillion dollars, but I just read that it's really only 5 trillion as debt held by the public. The remaining 4 trillion wasn't borrowed as debt, it was taken from previously collected social security payments with a 4 trillion dollar IOU from the government!

So back to the campaign. When either politician says "I want to cut taxes" you should be booing. Why? Because we are just literally robbing money from future generations and it's a joke that American voters are not informed enough to impact this with their votes. All a candidate has to do is promise tax cuts and people flock to them with their votes. Imagine if the democrats (traditional tax raisers) had Obama go out there saying he'd raise taxes because it's the responsible thing to do as a country? The very next day McCain would slam him for being non-patriotic and a tax and spend liberal - and then win the election in a landslide. Well - the problem has been that the conservatives have been tax and spend liberals just without the taxes! (OK maybe not the liberal part too - but you get the idea - Tax and Spend panderers to the Wealthy!).

So I'll end my rant with the recent analysis of McCain and Obamas tax plans. Remember how McCain keeps saying Obama wants to raise taxes - an effort to scare people into voting for McCain. Well that is true but only for the top 1% of wealthy income earners. If you make under $100,000 per year you really need to ask yourself why you'd vote for a Republican because they have continually cut taxes predominantly for the wealthy. In that case I can only imagine that the middle class voting republican are doing so for more of the social issues than their own personal economic situation. I don't have a problem with the Republicans making the rich richer - especially since they keep convincing 50.5% of the country to agree with them. Americans get what they vote for in my opinion - here's the recent data of how the rich are getting richer.


Source: Congressional Budget Office, Historical Effective Federal Tax Rates: 1979 to 2004, Table 1C, December 2006.


Source: Economic Policy Institute, State of Working America 2006-07, Table 5.1, citing Wolff (2006).

What's funny is that this data doesn't outrage me either. In fact I may shock some people by stating that I think this trend would be true regardless of what the government was doing - only maybe to a lesser extent if we weren't continually putting tax plans in place to favor the rich. But then again I am not sure we should be taxing the rich at a higher rate to begin with but the flat tax will be another blog all together.

Back to the candidate's tax plans. Read 'em and weep.



To balance my argument - I think Obama's plan of raising taxes for the wealthy while cutting taxes for most americans (90-95%) is an interesting spin on a Democratic position because they could get the majority to decide to Tax and spend with the rich footing the bill! And the rich are too small a voting pool to stop it - so the rich they smartly hold onto social issues with broader appeal (or continue to lie and have people think Obama is raising taxes on everyone) in order to gain favor of their economic agendas. Obama's plan - however - in my opinion is still irresponsible and continues to push the burden back to later generations.

That being said - given the fact that in my opinion the current econimic crisis fundamentally is due to the fact that the middle class can no longer spend enough to grow our GDP. And we have probably tried for enough years to see if any money trickle's down from the top. I'd rather give a better tax break to the middle class and have the rich get richer selling them goods through their businesses than through taxes. In my opinion the rich know how to make money, so if you empower the middle class with a little more money to make them feel better off - they will then spend it at the rich people's businesses (if you think this is some generalization, just know that 80% of the wealthiest americans have some amount of busines ownership contributing to their income. Find me someone in the Forbes 400 that isn't a business owner (though a few in there inherited the money from a business owner - see the Walton family).

It is funny to think that when politicians talk about wasteful earmarks and spending, the fact that they can say that one party is asking for a BILLION dollars in pork spending - and it sounds terrible (he said BILLION), but it's really invisible (most people estimate all pork barrel spending at ~1% of the budget) compared to the 9 Trillion dollar debt.

What's the point of all this? I guess I just want to raise awareness that in order to be elected, politicians use gimmicks to get your vote that are really only hurting the country. These gimmicks could be lowering taxes, gimmicky vice-presidents (couldn't resist), or blocking free trade (but that's a whole other blog too!).

Isn't this just a symptom of the broader issue Americans have of not being able to save money? I mean really - the fact that people too often focus on short term gratification versus long term well-being is why these gimmicks work, and why personal spending rates outpace personal incomes.

You just want to yell STOP THE MADNESS...

Congress: Throw the bums out!

In case you still believe Congress is working for you the regular Joe. Here's a great summary of their busy calendar.



This is why I am a supporter of term limits. Of course - many people argue that we don't need term limits because these politicians are up for re-election, however relying on the american public to know enough to figure this out is probably what got us here in the 1st place!

Perks of being in congress:
1) free from arrest in all cases, except for treason, felony, and breach of the peace
2) a member of Congress may not be sued for slander because of remarks made in either house
3) As of 2006 rank and file Members of Congress received a yearly salary of $165,200, this puts each of them in the top 5% of all income earners in the US.
4) Congressional members are covered by the Federal Employees' Retirement System. In 2006, the average annual pension for retired senators and representatives was $60,972 for life (still the top 25% of income earners even after they stop working)! This of course includes governmental health insurance & benefits - all on the tax payers dime!

I hate to sounds like Lou Dobbs (the grumpiest man on TV) but how can you not read this an be outraged! When the poeple in congress are the financial elite - no wonder the average american is not at the center of their work.

Don't even get me started on lobbying.

Indian Thriller

Somehow I ran into this on Youtube. It is supposed to be "Thriller" from India.



What is most amazing is how terrible and corny it is, in fact they will bust into some move that looks aweful but then I think "wait - that WAS a move from Michael Jackson's thriller! Only he made it look a lot less corny!"

Thriller is still a pretty good video to watch.

There IS Life on Mars

The Mars Phoenix Mission is a robotic spacecraft on a mission to Mars to search for environments suitable for microbial life, and to research the history of water there.

But I don't want to talk about how amazing this mission is (and it is), or how unbelievable it is that we can get color images from the surfaces of other planets. No - this blog focuses on one assumption: What would it mean if there IS life on Mars?

In my mind, if there is evidence of life on mars (which presumably could have lived there over a billion years ago) life in the Universe is no longer "special". In fact it would lead me to believe that life in the Universe is abundant, though spread out through cosmic time depending on the specific life of the stars and planets involved. In fact there is an equation (The Drake Equation) that predicts the likelihood that we could come in contact with intelligent life in our solar system.

The Drake equation states that:



where N is the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which communication might be possible; and
R* is the average rate of star formation in our galaxy
fp is the fraction of those stars that have planets
ne is the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets
fℓ is the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop life at some point
fi is the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop intelligent life
fc is the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space
L is the length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space.

To think in an almost unbounded Universe that not only is there life out there, but there was life just next door, as the Phoenix potentially could show, suggests that life is not precious but maybe still fleeting. Moreover - the genetic variability in complex life would be so wild, we probably can't imagine what other life could look like. Considering the genetic variety this planet has seen (not the most extreme in my mind being dinosaurs considering the extreme amounts of energy needed to keep them alive) if life is abundant, then we may not be the product of some higher power but one output of an infinite number of random number generators.

Now I am not presuming that Phoenix will find evidence of complex life, or that it will even find evidence of life. In fact it will be lucky just to find water on mars at all (see left - thanks Mike!). More likely it could find evidence of microbes. But then I don't think it would be far fetched to think that if there was life on Mars, then similar to life on our planet, simple forms of life over billions of years can evolve into the complex organisms here on Earth like the cat or the platypus, the hippopotamus or the giraffe.

In fact I am not sure that society as a whole or even our varied Religions are prepared to incorporate the fact that life could be more abundant than we previously thought and exist throughout the Universe. I think we often struggle combining Science and Religion (The old evolution versus creationism debate). If Darwinism is tough enough to grasp, then how much would we struggle to accept life outside the bounds of Earth.

Funny evolution side note. There are crabs in Japan called Samurai Crabs, or Heikengani - species of crab native to Japan, with a shell that bears a pattern resembling a human face. It is locally believed that these crabs are reincarnations of the spirits of the Heike warriors who committed suicide by jumping into the sea. Tradition follows that if a crab is caught with a Samurai face on it - it is thrown back into the sea. Carl Sagan used these crabs as an example of unintentional artificial selection (versus natural selection) where if you were a crab with markings somewhat similar to a Samurai warrior's face, you survived more often than any others, and over time you looked more and more like a Samurai warrior because of this selection!



I for one am rooting for us finding evidence for life on Mars and I am not sure why. I don't think I have completely wrapped my mind around what that would mean, but I have an inner desire for it to be true. There is a romantic and elitist notion to life only existing on Earth, but that seems to be such a lonely and cold existence. And as my next blog discusses, the case where life only exists on Earth leads me to think we need to do so much more as a species than we are currently doing to leave a legacy in the Universe (and I don't know what that is obviously).

There ISN'T Life on Mars

It's probably not a big story if we don't find life on mars. After all it's a long shot for us to think that a spacecraft that we launched 442,000,000 miles from earth and will only have 92 days to look for left over evidence of life in ice sparse buried ice remnants before the spacecraft is frozen and destroyed is what I call an astronomical long shot.

So let's focus on a bigger question. What if there isn't any other life ANYWHERE in the solar system. What could that mean? Consider the short time we have been on earth.

The Cosmic Calendar is a scale in which the lifetime of the universe is mapped onto one calendar year; that is to say, the Big Bang took place on a cosmic January 1 at precisely midnight, and today's date and time is December 31 at midnight. On this calendar, the solar system did not appear until September 9, life on Earth arose on September 30, the first dinosaurs appeared on December 25th, the first flowers on December 28th and the first primates on December 30. The first humans did not arrive until around 10:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve, and all of human history has been recorded in the last 10 seconds.

So if life only exists here on earth, and we are but a flash in the pan, what does it all mean? Are we one of the greatest flukes in evolution, or are we direct evidence of a higher power at work? It boggles the mind. if we are unique in the Universe, and I mean not just currently, but in all time, you would think that we would have some greater purpose. But the facts are that the entire planets evolution was headed in many different directions only to have a meteor kill off all of the dinosaurs in one giant mass extinction (of which there have been many) and make it possible for us to be here today. In fact over 99% of species that ever lived are now extinct. We probably will be too, some day. Eventually the Earth will dry up just like Mars and best case scenario only "trace evidences" of life could be found frozen in buried ice.

I guess the big question is why are we here, and as this blog proposes, if we are the only place where life exists AND life will only exist for such a short period of time in the cosmic sense, what's the whole point? Are we supposed to do anything special? Or will the next form of life that takes over be as intelligent and do something special? It just seems like if life is so precious in the Universe - we probably should be accomplishing more than eating, sleeping, and vacationing.

Just keep in mind that after a nuclear world war, or mass extinction from our greenhouse gasses and global warming, the Earth will still be here, and as inhabitable as ever considering we have been through the Snow Ball Earth:

Snowball earth describes the coldest global climate imaginable - a planet covered by glacial ice from pole to pole. The global mean temperature would be about -50°C (-74°F) because most of the Sun's (Solar) radiation would be reflected back to space by the icy surface. The average equatorial temperature would be about -20°C (-10°F), roughly similar to present Antarctica. Because of its solid surface, the climate on a snowball earth would have much in common with present Mars.

The carbon dioxide levels necessary to unfreeze Snow Ball Earth have been estimated as being 350 times what they are today, about thirteen percent of the atmosphere. Over 4 to 30 million years, enough CO2 and methane, mainly emitted by volcanoes, would accumulate to finally cause enough greenhouse effect to make surface ice melt in the tropics until a band of permanently ice-free land and water developed.

I guess in summary there probably isn't much we could do to the Earth worse than what it has seen, though this is not a case to ignore being environmentally friendly as that is critical to our existence. I just think it is a low benchmark to say leave the Earth in tact and live like the animals when we could potentially do or create so much more. Rather this is a a call for "what the heck legacy are we going to leave, as potentially the only sentient beings ever to exist in the Universe." There seems to be an exponentially higher benchmark required for our contributions to the Universe, and in general we spend most of our time just trying to survive and very little time creating, inventing, and building.

Acceleration (Fun with Physics)

Which has a faster acceleration? My 300+ hp car, or gravity? (ignore the different planes in which they operate)

The question came up today because I was joking with Dave K. that my old 48hp 1980 VW Rabbit Diesel accelerated from 0-60 mph in under 5 seconds - then I clarified "off a cliff". Hence the debate.

Gravity seems to be such a weak force. I mean if I drop a tennis ball no one points how how that ball just peeled out of my hands. So how fast would gravity accelerate you from 0-60 mph? Is it faster than my car which goes 0-60 mph in 5.1 seconds? It turns out that gravity is pretty darn fast (accelerationally speaking). For those science geeks I will be referring only to gravity here on earth.

Here are the numbers (G = force of gravity)

2008 BMW 335xi     0-60 in 5.1 s ~ 0.55 G
2008 "Gravity car"   0-60 in 2.7 s    1.00 G

Turns out an F1 race car can pull 1 G accelerating, but if you want to talk fun facts, the same race car can pull 5 G's braking!!!!1 It can go from 200-0 in 1.9 seconds or 180 ft! That is amazing!

A human can accelerate at about 0.4 G's running the 40 yd dash
The space shuttle takes off with 3 G's
A 1997 Dodge Viper can go 0-60 in 2.9s or 0.94 G's
A falcon can pull 18 G's pulling up from a dive!

Other fun fact:
In 1954 Col. John P. Stapp rode a rocket sled to 632 mph in ~6 seconds and then came to a stop in 1.4 seconds. He experienced deceleration forces averaging 25 G's with a 40 G peak!

(since I rarely post 2 blogs on the same evening, be sure to check out the Shelby modeling blog below!)

Google Maps Street View

If you haven't seen google maps street view, check it out. You can "walk" down streets of major cities, turn your head right or left to look at the buildings and take a virtual walking tour of major landmarks.

I first caught wind of it when privacy concerns arose by the people caught in the street view cameras coming out of strip clubs or falling off their bikes. Soon google will be blurring faces in street view.

Below I took a stroll down Yawkey Way to the entrance to Fenway Park!

Amazing Archer

There is pretty much no limit to what people can do. Check out this video from "America's Got Talent:



I love the reaction she gets from David Hasselhoff.

OK - just one more amazing video from America's Got Talent:

Square Root Without a Calculator!

I found this on the internet in 1998 and saved it to my computer because I thought it was pretty amazing. It's is a method to take the square root of any number without using a calculator. All you need is a pencil and paper and a new long division algorithm.

I find this so facsinating because we take so much for granted with out sophisticated graphing calculators, it's nice to know how to get along with out one, if only for a simple mathematical operation. Enjoy!

(Click on the image)