Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Do you sometimes get the feeling that the news is just a self-fulfilling prophesy?
U.S. economy in meltdown
Global climate change worse than expected
Teen commits vicious crime against cat
Where were these stories even five years ago when times were (relatively speaking) good? Okay, maybe five years is a bad example because Bush the idiot had already invaded countries and was doing his level best to destroy the world. How about we go back ten years ago? Everyone seemed more upbeat about things.
Perhaps, and this is just pie-in-the-sky thinking, if we focused on how to fix the problems, instead of screaming like Chicken Little and insisting that the world was going to end, maybe it would all be alright?
I dunno. Its just a thought.
Somehow I can't see how spending another $700 billion is gonna fix a problem where the people involved have already spent more than they have.
U.S. economy in meltdown
Global climate change worse than expected
Teen commits vicious crime against cat
Where were these stories even five years ago when times were (relatively speaking) good? Okay, maybe five years is a bad example because Bush the idiot had already invaded countries and was doing his level best to destroy the world. How about we go back ten years ago? Everyone seemed more upbeat about things.
Perhaps, and this is just pie-in-the-sky thinking, if we focused on how to fix the problems, instead of screaming like Chicken Little and insisting that the world was going to end, maybe it would all be alright?
I dunno. Its just a thought.
Somehow I can't see how spending another $700 billion is gonna fix a problem where the people involved have already spent more than they have.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Here is something I wrote while I was on vacation. I said it happened last night, but it was actually about two weeks ago now.
It felt pretty real because the dream was a lot like my actual working life is. In fact, I dreamt that I was at work.
The first part I remember clearly I was on a job site. To be specific, it was a mine. There was lot of dirt piled all over the place, and a huge pile of minerals off in the distance. What was kinda strange is that the part of the mine I was on seemed very new, and rather sparse. Usually mine sites have building crammed together (sort of) with not a lot of wasted space. Where I was there was only one huge building, built a lot like your average farm shop.
I went inside and there were guys working. A big guy, almost too big to be real, came over to me and started talking. They had a water treatment issue (obviously, or why would I be there) and they wanted to know what I could do for them.
What wasn’t so strange is that they were looking to me for help because my bosses (real one’s) had gotten in touch with these guys and said that we could work miracles. That’s not such an unusual thing. What made it weird is when I found out what they expected to do.
I didn’t really get the point of the problem at first. They explained that they wanted to run the mine waste through the water treatment equipment before discharging it. That’s not such an usual thing to suggest. However they kept going on about how difficult this was proving to be, and how other people had failed at the attempt before. At one point the big guy stopped in explaining the problem, and went into this story about a previous supplier that came in with these HUGE tanks, and absolutely massive pipes to connect to the feed system. Everything was in steel. He was talking about pipes that an ordinary man could walk inside. Now this was strange because the scale of things that I’m commonly doing is in the 4 inch or 6 inch as the largest pipe size. I’ve designed something with 12 inch pipe but we won’t be building it.
So the story goes on and everything seems more and more weird. They are talking about weird temperatures and absurdly small pressures and I start to get the feeling, is this ultra-filtration? Then they show me a piece of equipment that a previous supplier left behind and it looks a lot like an ultra-filtration module from GE Water. Or at least that’s what’s stamped on it, and its blue in color.
Then the big guy starts talking about temperatures of 3000 Kelvin and I almost dropped my lunch. That’s preposterous! You don’t treat water at that temperature. Its not even water then. They don’t want to treat water, he tells me, but molten potassium sulphate. Apparently the whole building I’m in is built over a storage pit where they have a massive amount of potassium sulphate, all in molten form at 3000 K. I honestly know next to nothing about potassium sulphate but this big guy assures me that if potassium sulphate is not kept under pressure, it immediately changes to a molten form that exists at 3000 K. I’m starting to get the idea that this is a dream now.
But for some strange reason I still make plans like I can treat this like water. The whole thing is getting clear now. They want me to put potassium sulphate, at 3000 K, through a reverse osmosis membrane, extract the water, so that they have pure potassium sulphate they can sell. But the craziest thing about this hare brained scheme is, I’m actually buying into it. I start thinking I can do this!
So I’m doing a bunch of research and looking up different membranes. I’m trying to find something that would be resistant to the temperatures they are talking about, or coming up with a way to re-pressurize the molten potassium sulphate.
The last thing I remember is the floor to the building starts to come away from the foundation and I see this molten potassium sulphate burbling in the reservoir under the building. I’m shocked about this but no one else seems to even worry about it. I drive away still thinking of ways to treat this scenario, while the building collapses into the reservoir.
It felt pretty real because the dream was a lot like my actual working life is. In fact, I dreamt that I was at work.
The first part I remember clearly I was on a job site. To be specific, it was a mine. There was lot of dirt piled all over the place, and a huge pile of minerals off in the distance. What was kinda strange is that the part of the mine I was on seemed very new, and rather sparse. Usually mine sites have building crammed together (sort of) with not a lot of wasted space. Where I was there was only one huge building, built a lot like your average farm shop.
I went inside and there were guys working. A big guy, almost too big to be real, came over to me and started talking. They had a water treatment issue (obviously, or why would I be there) and they wanted to know what I could do for them.
What wasn’t so strange is that they were looking to me for help because my bosses (real one’s) had gotten in touch with these guys and said that we could work miracles. That’s not such an unusual thing. What made it weird is when I found out what they expected to do.
I didn’t really get the point of the problem at first. They explained that they wanted to run the mine waste through the water treatment equipment before discharging it. That’s not such an usual thing to suggest. However they kept going on about how difficult this was proving to be, and how other people had failed at the attempt before. At one point the big guy stopped in explaining the problem, and went into this story about a previous supplier that came in with these HUGE tanks, and absolutely massive pipes to connect to the feed system. Everything was in steel. He was talking about pipes that an ordinary man could walk inside. Now this was strange because the scale of things that I’m commonly doing is in the 4 inch or 6 inch as the largest pipe size. I’ve designed something with 12 inch pipe but we won’t be building it.
So the story goes on and everything seems more and more weird. They are talking about weird temperatures and absurdly small pressures and I start to get the feeling, is this ultra-filtration? Then they show me a piece of equipment that a previous supplier left behind and it looks a lot like an ultra-filtration module from GE Water. Or at least that’s what’s stamped on it, and its blue in color.
Then the big guy starts talking about temperatures of 3000 Kelvin and I almost dropped my lunch. That’s preposterous! You don’t treat water at that temperature. Its not even water then. They don’t want to treat water, he tells me, but molten potassium sulphate. Apparently the whole building I’m in is built over a storage pit where they have a massive amount of potassium sulphate, all in molten form at 3000 K. I honestly know next to nothing about potassium sulphate but this big guy assures me that if potassium sulphate is not kept under pressure, it immediately changes to a molten form that exists at 3000 K. I’m starting to get the idea that this is a dream now.
But for some strange reason I still make plans like I can treat this like water. The whole thing is getting clear now. They want me to put potassium sulphate, at 3000 K, through a reverse osmosis membrane, extract the water, so that they have pure potassium sulphate they can sell. But the craziest thing about this hare brained scheme is, I’m actually buying into it. I start thinking I can do this!
So I’m doing a bunch of research and looking up different membranes. I’m trying to find something that would be resistant to the temperatures they are talking about, or coming up with a way to re-pressurize the molten potassium sulphate.
The last thing I remember is the floor to the building starts to come away from the foundation and I see this molten potassium sulphate burbling in the reservoir under the building. I’m shocked about this but no one else seems to even worry about it. I drive away still thinking of ways to treat this scenario, while the building collapses into the reservoir.
Monday, February 09, 2009
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Monday, February 02, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Why does everything have to be so difficult?
I have an MP3 player. Its actually a very good one. It can play videos, in addition to music. Its got a nice interface, even if the touch bar is a little sensitive. I get a little frustrated with it sometimes, because its so touchy, but the output from it is stellar.
The trouble is, its not brand new anymore. And being not brand new anymore means that NOTHING wants to work with it. As you will note from the time stamp on this post, I am awake at 2:30 in the morning as I struggle to make this work. I've finally gotten my computer to recognize the damn thing but I've basically blown off sleeping now.
Why can't stuff just work? I say this about ten times a day but why can't things JUST . . . EFFING . . . WORK!?!?!?!
I have an MP3 player. Its actually a very good one. It can play videos, in addition to music. Its got a nice interface, even if the touch bar is a little sensitive. I get a little frustrated with it sometimes, because its so touchy, but the output from it is stellar.
The trouble is, its not brand new anymore. And being not brand new anymore means that NOTHING wants to work with it. As you will note from the time stamp on this post, I am awake at 2:30 in the morning as I struggle to make this work. I've finally gotten my computer to recognize the damn thing but I've basically blown off sleeping now.
Why can't stuff just work? I say this about ten times a day but why can't things JUST . . . EFFING . . . WORK!?!?!?!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Shopping carts do not belong in the express lane.
I swear these people were too stupid to live. I actually put most of the blame on the woman because she looked like she was a heinous bitch and the husband was just doing whatever he could not to be in public anymore.
They were in the express lane, but they had a shopping cart.
But first, more stupidity.
There is a long line for the express lane. I think there was 8 people in it. The line was VERY obviously turned to the right because of its length. Nevertheless miss 'I'm Too Important to Wait In Line' cuts ahead of three people and just lines up behind the person most directly straight out from the counter. At least 45 seconds of dirty looks got her to go to the back of the line.
Then I stopped to truly examine this situation. There was two of them and they had four items. They were, and I note:
- one small beef roast
- 1 L container of milk
- bag of apples
- bag of indeterminate vegetables
For this they needed a shopping cart. For two of them. Not a hand basket. This was the full, four wheels, can hold $1000 worth of groceries. Four four items and one serious bad attitude.
Why is it we can't exterminate stupid people on sight!?!
I swear these people were too stupid to live. I actually put most of the blame on the woman because she looked like she was a heinous bitch and the husband was just doing whatever he could not to be in public anymore.
They were in the express lane, but they had a shopping cart.
But first, more stupidity.
There is a long line for the express lane. I think there was 8 people in it. The line was VERY obviously turned to the right because of its length. Nevertheless miss 'I'm Too Important to Wait In Line' cuts ahead of three people and just lines up behind the person most directly straight out from the counter. At least 45 seconds of dirty looks got her to go to the back of the line.
Then I stopped to truly examine this situation. There was two of them and they had four items. They were, and I note:
- one small beef roast
- 1 L container of milk
- bag of apples
- bag of indeterminate vegetables
For this they needed a shopping cart. For two of them. Not a hand basket. This was the full, four wheels, can hold $1000 worth of groceries. Four four items and one serious bad attitude.
Why is it we can't exterminate stupid people on sight!?!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Let me just run a scenario by you. Tell me what you think.
For the sake of argument, let's just say we all started driving electric cars tomorrow. No more gasoline/diesel engines on the road anymore. They are all gone.
However our electrical power generation didn't change its complexity at the same time. We still manufactured most of our electricity from coal.
Wouldn't that mean that we were essentially driving coal powered cars?
Think about it.
For the sake of argument, let's just say we all started driving electric cars tomorrow. No more gasoline/diesel engines on the road anymore. They are all gone.
However our electrical power generation didn't change its complexity at the same time. We still manufactured most of our electricity from coal.
Wouldn't that mean that we were essentially driving coal powered cars?
Think about it.
