Science Fiction and Me

Hulu - House: Broken - Watch the full episode now.

2009-10-27T17:12:00.000-04:00

Hulu - House: Broken - Watch the full episode now.

What's so important about fiction?

From an engineering standpoint, it doesn't seem to do anything. It doesn't exert any force (F=ma), accomplish any work (W=F*d), generate power (P = dW/dt). Storytelling just seems to waste time. Creative writing isn't a real major. You don't earn money until you're a professional, one of the best, as opposed to engineering, where you just need a degree and a job.

But engineering doesn't feed the soul. There's no mathematical formula for hope. On the surface, fiction can make us laugh, release endorphins, space the day out so one isn't doing civil engineering assignments from sun-up to sun-down. Fiction also gives us examples, lessons from others' lives. Non-fiction can do that, too, and so can communities, but fiction can do it succintly.

Take this episode of House. Who doesn't secretly admire House's attitude and his courage in confronting others? We know it's not practical, but it's fun to imagine. This is an episode of consequences and of hope. No, most of us aren't on the same jerk level as House. We don't manipulate people like he does, but it doesn't mean we're any less broken. I love what the psychiatrist says at one point:

"Why do you value failures more than your successes?"
...
"Sucesses only last until someone screws them up. Failures are forever."
"So you accept that fact. You accept that there's nothing you can do."
"Okay, I accept the fact that there's nothing I can do. Now, what can I do?"
"You acknowledge failure, and you move past it. You apologize."
"Wow, powerful things, these apologies. You get someone to jump off a building. You say two little words and move on with your life. Hardly seems fair."
"Is that the issue?... You caused him pain. If the world is just, you have to suffer equally? ... You're not God, House. You're just another screwed up human being who needs to move on. ... Apologize to him, let yourself feel better. Then you can keep feeling better."

On a social level, too, this episode is important. I think, in general, people in the US are afraid of admitting they need help, and there seems to be a huge amount of disgrace associated with getting help. It's as though we are expected to do it all on our own, to be self-sufficient, to have everything in our lives under control, but in reality, we can't. If you're smart enough to handle everything life throws at you, you're not only a genius but also an abnormality. Use it to help the rest of us. The best feature of this episode is that it follows House's perceptions. It starts out with a load of resentment against the institution that builds and builds and builds as he sees more and as he fumes against it, but once he learns he can't always win, once he starts seeking for himself to find an answer, the people around him, the doctors and psychiatrists and even the other patients become real people, people he can care about and work with. The episode gets lighter, and I think his life does, too. That's something I think the viewers really needed to see.

political news for engineers - Google Search

2009-09-25T16:31:00.000-04:00

political news for engineers - Google Search

One of the most irritating things about hearing the news, whether from a paper, from the television (or YouTube), or from the internet is the lack of information. These sources aim at a third or fourth grade vocabulary level, do they not? I argue that they also aim at a fourth grade level of understanding. A typical political article quotes what a politician says and what other politicians say about it. Through it all, scientific hypothesis that have arguable merit are tauted as fact. Global warming, for example, may not even exist; even if it does, there can be no conclusive proof that it is caused by humans. The use of fossil fuels as opposed to alternative energy is still quite arguable. And still, President Obama undertakes massive projects, committing the country to change that may not even be possible, let alone preferable. What if the world changes and there's nothing we can do about it? Why can't we seek to adapt rather than stop it?

I urge all those who can to go to databases for your news. Find the issues in the news media. Research them in academia. Even that may not be objective, but it's ten logarithmic steps up from the news.

And if you're an entrepreneur starting a new news source, do the world a favor: don't just get quotes from the experts. Present the expert's findings--in detail--to your audience. Maybe only a small percentage of the population has both the initiative to read what you say and the education to interpret it, but with a strategic marketing plan, you can find them. After all, your job is to keep them informed to the best of your abilities. If you don't understand what the issues boil down to, hire someone who does. If you need an engineer versed in comp sci or fluid flow or aerodynamics or efficiency--whatever--I know where you can find one.

Research, guys. Our world's getting awfully lax with its future.

(Me, most of all.)

2009-04-20T17:54:00.002-04:00

Next USG symposium: How to defend Case in the event of a zombie attack.

Seriously, it is a common topic on campus (and hub-chat, apparently). Nominated defensible buildings include the Interfaith Center (ironically, but it does have enough concrete to block out wifi signals), Olin (has Project Club and the Formula SAE labs, among others), Clarke Tower (brick/concrete building with great "arrow-slits"), and, for some reason, Clark Hall.

In other news, the second quote of the year: "The issue 'X's computer finally bit the dust' has been resolved."

2009-04-16T13:32:00.002-04:00

Time Travel

Do you listen to Stargate or Quantum Leap?

Not really the question here, but let's play with it for a minute. According to both, if you change the past, it changes the future. According to Stargate, the changes pop into/out of existance, maybe in a puff of blue smoke. According to Quantum Leap, history changes and no one really notices.

I've got a new theory.

According to the scifi laymen's terms of Multiverse Theory, every decision every person makes splits the universe into parallel universes: one for each choice (or rather, one for each plausible choice, given the psychology of the people involved, weather, etc., that influence decision-making). If you base your history-changing in such a multiverse, then changing something in the past should never affect the present. All you're doing is retroactively branching a particular set of universes. It's like adding a canal upriver. Some of the water goes into the canal, sure, but that doesn't necessarily mean the river dries up. It just means there's less water coming toward the natural downstream.

If you're assuming that there's only enough water for one track and the canal is deeper than that part of the river, well, sure you've got a problem. But if you assume an infinite mass flow rate, problem solved. All channels are full: the deepest along with the shallowest. Maybe time doesn't work like that, but maybe it does. As for the "mass flow rate" of time... Well, we have precious little data on how time works. Not enough information.

2009-03-25T20:18:00.001-04:00

Quote of the year:

"It's a second order differential equation..." "...of deliciousness!"

2009-01-20T18:45:00.002-05:00

I feel accomplished with computers today.

Even though CHRYSON isn't working any better than it was when I took it to PerceptIS, I did make great headway with VINNET. Yesterday, M. helped me install XP and showed me how to investigate inside. Today was a voyage into Project Club to look for more RAM. Unfortunately, I didn't find it, but I did find a way to update my network card so my slow computer could at least use the gigabit internet here. I was quite proud of myself when I finished installing the network card. Well, my attempts at password-protected sharing didn't turn out so well, but I did manage to get a background from CHRYSON to VINNET via the network...

Now if only VINNET would stop acting up...

Gmail - Inbox (3122) - seaspace2007@gmail.com

2008-12-19T12:07:00.000-05:00

Douglas MacArthur - "We are not retreating - we are advancing in another direction."

I like quotes. :D Could totally do a short story based on this! Or at least a scene... Those are short stories, right? Or short shorts...

Sark - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2008-12-17T18:27:00.000-05:00

Quote of the day:

Sark - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "In August 1990 an unemployed French nuclear physicist named André Gardes attempted a singlehanded invasion of Sark, armed with a semi-automatic weapon. The night Gardes arrived he put up signs declaring his intention to take over the island the following day at noon. He was arrested by the island's volunteer Constable, while sitting on a bench, changing the gun's magazine and waiting for noon to arrive."

So what if now I'd rather visit Sark over anywhere in France? I'm amused. It looks like a bizzarre little island, rather akin to the forgotten little planets in Star Wars. Cool, though.

2008-12-09T11:12:00.002-05:00

Quote of the day: "If you don't see people coming, you can't get out of the way." -my roommate

The first of two finals today start in an hour and fifteen minutes, and I feel much better about them than I did last night. Yay for getting perspective and for sleeping! Yay for worship music, too! I really like the stuff from right around 2000; it has more substance than the popular stuff lately. Or it's just more meaningful to me. Maybe that's it.

Anyway. I studied for manufacturing this morning, and I need a 55% to get an A in the class. That's pretty happy and stable. As for calc... I would very much like to get the 89% that keeps me at an A. I think I can do it, but stupid mistakes have cost me 15% on two of the three midterm exams (I got 99.5% on the other). Even so, I'd have to fail it to get a C in the class, so not too much pressure there. (Except that I really want the A. I've enjoyed that class too much to settle for a B.)

Then I can relax tonight and study my eyes out tomorrow for numerical methods on Thursday. All in all, it can't be that bad. I only need a 68% to keep my B in the class, but if I keep up with my consistent 84% in the class, it'll probably become an A with the curve.

Welcome to college reasoning: if I keep doing what I've been doing, it should curve to an A. Go figure. Still going to study my eyes out anyway. I'd be very proud of myself if I got an A in that class!

2008-11-19T17:36:00.002-05:00

Quote of the day:

Concerning chocolate-filled marshmallows:

Suitemate 1: "Why would you ruin good marshmallows like that?"

Suitemate 2: "Why would you ruin good chocolate like that?"

Suitemate 3: "Why would you ruin good chocolate with peanut butter?"

2008-11-15T11:46:00.002-05:00

It's been a Nubbins week. Last's Friday's episode of Sanctuary kicked it all off with the new creature-of-the-week: Nubbins, the breeding and attractiveness of Tribbles crossed with the open faces and male-aversions of Furbies crossed with the ears and viciousness of Gremlins (I'm assuming; I've never seen).

Episode two: Manufacturing, of all things. Our lab mostly finished the hammer handles. The last step was to cut off the last seven-eighths of an inch of turned steel, a bit approximately the six of a 9mm bullet that makes a wonderful nail file. "Anyone want their nub?" the prof. called at the end. I poke my friend and whisper, "Nubbins." He groans.

Finale: Oryx and Crake. After genetically engineering the perfect chicken-meat-producing ... blob... called a ChickieNob, a fast-food franchise springs up around it offering what may have made an interesting solution to the Sanctuary's problems: Buckets O'Nubbins.

A Nubbin week indeed. Happy word-mongering!

2008-10-06T11:47:00.003-04:00

I've not taken a single midterm and already my brain is fried. I'll manage somehow. Fortunately, they say sophomore year is the hardest. Once I get through this I should be all right. Theoretically.

At least calc is going well. Calc is amazing. I could probably do calc all day. Of course, I'm biased. Right now, we're "learning" stuff I already needed for other classes, so that makes it particularly easy--and fun. AND... We learned today in calc some vital information I need for my numerical methods midterm tomorrow. Woot. Assuming that's on it... and assuming I learn everything else I need. I'm so lost in that class until they sit me in front of a computer. It could be worse, I suppose.

As soon as my brain reboots. Three cheers for the wonders of hot chocolate, just as soon as I get back to the Tower.

Unfortunately, as I sit here and gaze sightlessly out into the empty column of Nord, my creative brain has rebooted, leaving the important (and/or applicable) portions to wallow in an organic BSOD.

I wish calc counted for more. It comes so easily and makes so much sense. I wish I could look at the people who are waiting for me to accomplish something and show them how easily calc comes, how complicated it looks but it doesn't have to be. Vector calc, anyway, so far as I've seen. The beautiful nature of two-variable functions and level-set diagrams, of gradients and mixed derivatives and the chain rule in a three-variable function. So beautiful. And comprehensible. And then there's numerical methods: the application of said beauty before it's learned. Woot. I can kind of see why Mike dropped it last semester, why he swore not to take it until after he finished calc. Not that it'll help. It's not really understanding the math that's the problem: it's distinguishing the nine nearly-identical processes of finding roots to systems of equations and why you've done it wrong if you start with an identity matrix instead of ending with it, even if you get the right answers each time. Miff. I'm not good with subtle differences, especially if arbitrary (non-descriptive) names are applied to each.

Off to study and then to my favorite class: scifi!

2008-09-16T21:49:00.001-04:00

Thwing should have unicorns!

The common consensus of 502-f.

2008-08-26T19:09:00.002-04:00

HELLO SOPHOMORE YEAR!

So proud of myself already: I got unpacked, and my room is as neat as it's going to be all year. Y'all who come, enjoy it while you can! Ignore that you can see only part of my desk--it's covered with study materials only, I assure you. Yes, the lava lamp and external speakers next to the CD player all count as study materials. I moved the fountain elsewhere.

You know, sometimes it just feels like cheating when you find the answer in the book for homework problems. Will someone assure me otherwise?

2008-08-11T12:17:00.001-04:00

There are things we do as humans, ways that we live, that are not explicitly wrong but that are not in God's ultimate plan--the plan for when He rules directly. These things do not put us beyond His grace and blessings for now but instead limit the blessings He can give. So how should we live?

2008-07-25T19:29:00.002-04:00

I miss writing. I miss scifi. I miss Ike.

But?

God is cool. Life is good. Work is challenging.

And...

I'm growing: stronger, smarter, more physically fit, more emotionally enduring, more spiritually faithful, and...

more tired.

I probably know enough about horses to be hired as someone's personal farmhand/stablemaster. As long as they didn't need much. Do you think I could put myself through college that way? Or should I just stick with writing. Salary? Scholarships? Hmm...

Go to shower before Dr. Who. Will invade director's house. Woot.

2008-07-21T12:59:00.001-04:00

Beliefs of a United Methodist Christian by Emerson Colaw, 1972

2008-07-19T19:47:00.002-04:00

SUMMER!

This has to be a quick rundown of what's been going on.

As most of you know, I'm working at a totally awesome United Methodist camp that happens to be located right beside the Flight 93 crash site. (Thank God they didn't crash into the camp!) I'm on horse staff, working from 7:30 AM to... whenever the barn is done, so usually somewhere between 7 PM and 9 PM. We care for twenty-one horses and eight ponies, all of whom have their own unique quirks, plus around forty campers, most of whom have easier quirks than the horses. (Ponies are so much more stubborn. If you have a choice, always work with horses, even if you're small!)

Just FYI, I've been involuntarily dismounted four times from horses and four or five times from ponies, but the worst I've gotten are some scratches and a sore butt. Hakuna matata. I've learned a lot about my reflexes this year; apparently, I tuck and roll when I'm involuntarily dismounted. Cool beans. I also learned (thank you, Chrissy) that I may or may not dig my nails into anything attacking me. I highly recommend not trying, because while I stabbed the ground last time, next time, the prankster might not be so fortunate.

Well, I'm ten weeks into camp and I haven't gone swimming. The lifeguard just called me and invited me, so I'm off. Hope y'all are having a great summer.

2008-05-14T11:30:00.000-04:00

It's official. Vista boots faster than Win 2000. My cell phone boots faster than Vista. But ME boots faster than my cell phone. Yay ME.

2008-05-08T02:07:00.000-04:00

Chryson, Jadzia, these I admire to some degree, yet I feel as though I'm more like Ezri. Why? Chryson respects no one; Jadzia is nearly faithless. Both of these fundamentally contradict my beliefs.

But Ezri is mild, timid. Her lack of confidence prevents her from accomplishing what she's capable of. The unweighted words of others weigh heavily on her, pushing her to the breaking point with the slightest tap. Isn't that how I am? The slightest thing goes wrong, and I want to cry. I have no idea what I'm capable of, because I don't really think I can do it. I don't believe I'm any different from anyone else, and when I do, I'm no longer the same.

That must be what I admire in Jadzia. She's bold, even into arrogance, but she can be told to back down. She can listen to others' advice. She lives loudly, in perfect control of herself and enlightened to the ways in which others give her power. I could be like that. I have been like that. I don't know if I should be like that. I'm not bold.

But I am stubborn.

From where I am now, accounting for where I was, I'm as likely to become Ezri as I am Chryson. I could be the shy one, sitting back and listening, hanging around, sitting in. Withdrawn, insecure, empowered but lacking the will to use it. Or I could be the one sitting in the middle, trading stories with all the misfits and the in's, gliding from circle to circle and shining in them all. Bold, arrogant, confident, inspiring, admired.

The hardest part of knowing I can be either is believing that neither is better.

2008-05-04T23:13:00.002-04:00

At last, behold the wonders of my skills. After studying for physics, I took my old note sheet and expanded it to five note sheets, only to compress it to two note sheets, all with the same information. Behold: I am organized! And I will have multiple copies to take with me in case anything happens. Now if only I could procure a calculator I'm allowed to use...

To bed with me, then, and to practice the exam come morning... later morning. Behold: it has yet to reach midnight, yet still I get me toward bed! What new wonders might I see, if already both college students in this room reach bed ere midnight?

2008-05-04T16:54:00.002-04:00

Once again, I find myself feeling like the image of a college student. Dressed in my church clothes, wearing my cheap, green flip-flops to avoid rubbing the new blisters on my toes, I struggle to open the door to my quad. Tucked under one arm are three physics test, a clipboard, three different physics textbooks, and a tin of homemade cookies. In my other hand, a cold can of Dr. Pepper. Yup, I'm a college student.

Now to check my grades from the past two finals...

In chem: A. Otherwise, I couldn't have missed the final.
In math: A. 92% on the final, enough to keep the A I barely managed. Whew.
Statics isn't posted.

2008-05-03T23:25:00.001-04:00

I wrote my first legend today. I was thinking about it all last night. This is how the Gertewet began. I'm quite proud of myself. What do you think?

2008-04-30T11:44:00.002-04:00

Chris:

"Remember: you can be your own differential equation fairy. And you can see whether you're a good differential equation fairy or a bad one."

"I won't guarantee it, but I'm pretty sure that by the time I'm finished, second order linear homogeneous differential equations with constant coefficients will be your favorite."

(Concerning biology) "This frog had a heart... not anymore."

"What do you get when you cross an elephant with a mountain climber? Nothing. You can't cross a vector with a scalar."

Chris: "I could use 75, but that's like killing a butterfly with a bazooka."
DSD: "Have you never done that? It's fun."

CC:

"The age of innocence is over and physics is now a matter of life and death."

"The image is as big as the object, even if the mirror is small."

2008-04-23T07:06:00.002-04:00

"I got sidetracked by stats in our last class."

"Statics."

"No, statistics."

"I. C. the difference."

Thanks, DSD.