He's hot and miserable, so he decides to take action. The A/C has been busted for a long time, so he fixes it. Things cool down quickly.
The moving walkway motor is jammed, so he unjams it. People can get from place to place more easily. The TV was grainy and unclear, so he fixes the connection to the satellite dish, and now they get hundreds of high def channels.
One day, God decides to look down on Hell to see how his grand design is working out and notices that everyone is happy and enjoying umbrella drinks. He asks the Devil what's up? The Devil says, "Things are great down here since you sent us an engineer."
"What?" says God. "An engineer? I didn't send you one of those. That must have been a mistake. Send him upstairs immediately."
The Devil responds, "No way. We want to keep our engineer. We like him."
God demands, "If you don't send him to me immediately, I'll sue!"
The Devil laughs. "Where are you going to get a lawyer?"
A friend on my other internet community shared this--it's a free, interdisciplinary lecture series on COVID-19. Most of the topics sound fascinating, and I'm going to try to watch as many as I can: https://clas.ucdenver.edu/cpe/covid-19-colorado-beyond
Took my 15 year old to a BLM gathering locally between conference calls. Very sedate, no hassles. The county police were doing a smart job of being visible without being oppressive or confrontational.
"In most American cities, people of all races appear to be participating in the violence, vandalism and looting, particularly in Minneapolis, where a crowd burned the police department’s 3rd Precinct building last week and vandals were seen smashing windows and stealing items from stores. Multiracial coalitions also have marched peacefully. But in some cities, local officials have noted that black protesters have struggled to maintain peaceful protests in the face of young white men joining the fray, seemingly determined to commit mayhem.
In footage that spread widely online, a man identified as Bartels, who faces charges of vandalism and rioting, wore a bandanna emblazoned with the symbol of the Animal Liberation Front, a leaderless international resistance movement that pushes for animal rights. In the footage, he raised his middle fingers to black protesters who begged him to stop. At Bartels’s home in a Pittsburgh suburb, officers found spray paint and firearms, according to an arrest warrant reviewed by The Washington Post.
Attempts to reach Bartels, who turned himself in to police on Monday evening, were unsuccessful."
In the various NW cities, both the relatively peaceful events and those that turned highly violent, the crowd makeup is multi-racial, and have had a lot of white participants. But this is the northwest, and practically every demographic has a sizable white component.
Most also are coming to realize this isn't just a racial issue, much less a black issue, even though there is a significant impact on the black population (using that term because there are both African-American and other dark skinned populaces involved); it is a poor decision making problem where a wide variety of cohorts have been the victims at one point or another.
It amazes me how in this day and age, there are still so many who don't grasp the concept that different does not automatically equate with wrong.
I dropped my work Macbook Pro off at the Emeryville Apple store last Wed for a bad HDMI port. It still shows waiting to be sent in for repair. They had told me it would probably be done in a week. Now I'm wondering if it was taken when the Apple store was looted. Hopefully my laptop was in the back and the looters only took display models.
During the height of the pandemic, OR DOT closed their offices and suspended deadlines for renewals, etc. The one downside is new drivers couldn't take road tests. But now that the state is in recovery, the DOT is planning to reopen, and instigated a phone reservation system, hoping to alleviate the long lines at offices synonymous with DMVs almost everywhere.
In the first hour, there were ~18,000 calls. As the day progressed, and some people were on hold for hours, the number of people on hold climbed to 25K, and then crashed altogether.
The root issue? There were 80 people answering calls.
No 3 had his appt for his road test a couple of weeks ago. I had to make an appt in Petaluma because that was the closest office that had appointments back in Feb. It took 2 weeks of looking every morning to find an appt anywhere nearby. I called the DMV and they said as offices open they'll call appt holders as of when they closed at the end of March and go down the line. Which means he'll probably have to wait almost 2 months before he can get an appt. Now he's wishing he didn't procrastinate doing his 30 hours of drivers ed.
Had a discussion with my buddy in Austin (Steiner Ranch). His daughter isn't too motivated to get her permit. However, she voiced her opinion that she doesn't want to "drive that piece of crap Toyota Highlander" her mom drives when she does. I almost did a spit take.
My wife and I are at a bit of an impasse about risk. I bought my Civic with the idea that I’d be cascading it to a kid when it was 3 years old. No takers. So I suggested that we take advantage of auto maker desperation and swap it for a hybrid. Apparently that is letting the terrorists win. I genuinely don’t care, I just want a transportation solution that works.
My missus thinks that buying a car with an automatic transmission is letting a teenager dictate our “fleet” choices. The problem is that she’s the only one who actually cares if they learn how to drive a manual. I think it’s a “nice to have” but I’m not sure that it’s really going to be all that relevant for them.
I agree with this. I'm trying to figure out what to do when my TSX dies. I don't think there are very many 4 door, sporty, Japanese cars. Not doing German or American.
Maybe I go electric and use the Miata for getting my stick driving in.
No 3 was excited to learn until he got stalled the Miata a couple of times in a Safeway parking lot and we switched. Since then he hasn't wanted to go driving in a stick. Going to give him some time and see if he'll want to go out again.
I want to take a drop down PCH in the Miata with him but I told him he'll be driving some of it so he'll need to learn.
I was forced to learn. I came home from Cal freshman year for spring break - was going out to see my high school friends - look in the garage - my car is gone. Come back in to ask about it - my dad throws me the keys "learn how to drive stick"
(I had already "learned" - but it took that week for me to really get the idea of using the clutch - I must have stalled 5 times driving to Denny's that night)
What No 3's problem is going to be is that Ca has a 1 year restricted license so he can't drive any friends for 1 year. If he had gotten everything done by his 16th bday last Oct, he'd be able to drive his GF and his friends starting this oct. But now he can't even drive for at least 2+ months.
It’s kind of a moot point for her as she can’t have a car on campus as a freshman (so far as I know). The younger daughter is fired up because she wants to be able to drive herself to fencing next year
oh that's a good point. I know that Vandy doesn't allow freshman to have cars, though for No 2 it'll be a pain to buy one and drive one there. If we still lived in Louisville then I would've gotten a car for him to use. At the very least I wouldn't have to drive 2.5 hours each way to get him.
How exactly can they ban ownership of something they can legally own? More importantly, how do these students get to and from campus if they don't live very nearby?
I realized I didn’t actually answer your question: pretty much everyone who goes to Vassar lives on campus. Having a car on campus is a way to get away not get there.
Well, Vassar controls on campus parking and the city restricts it around campus. When I lived in Providence, overnight street parking was banned by the city for a variety of reasons and there was virtually no on campus parking at Brown.
As for how we’ll get said daughter to campus: we’ll drop her off. Under normal circumstances I’d expect her to come home by train between semesters but I think she’ll need to pack all her stuff out after the fall semester just in case
Sorry..I mean they can't park on campus. After that, there are limited number of parking spots available on campus for students.
And there isn't a way to park in the neighborhoods around the school. All freshman live in a freshman dorm area of campus. about 99% of the students live on campus or in the greek system. You actually have to ask to be allowed to live off campus. I suppose if you live in the Nashville or in the immediate area around campus you can get a waiver.
I didn't have a car for the first three years I was at Cal. If I needed to go home, I either took the greyhound bus (good times), or folks came and drove me.
We’re having a stubborn-off. Until the ‘rona she would get rides from friends or is. She’s also frightened of driving generally, and having a choice between the minivan (too big) and a manual (too daunting apparently) is not helping.
I was Mech E because I wanted to do Aerospace but Cal didn't have Aerospace. I ended up applying under Mech E because Air is a fluid so I thought it would work. Also my dad is a ME. I ended up getting into programming because I've been into programming since probably 1982 and I didn't like some of the ME classes as much. I did apply to CS at some UCs. Can't remember why I did CS at some and ME at Cal. I'm not sure I would've gotten in as a CS major at Cal, though I didn't know that at the time I applied.
Probably. I can't remember which had it. Looking back I'm glad I didn't get into it. Although somewhere like Lockheed Skunk Works would be an awesome place to work.
Several of my friends starred college as aerospace engineering majors because SC basically was a pipeline to the various southland aerospace companies. Not one of them did it after the peace dividend kicked in.
my dad was a Mech E and a good fraction of my friends at Cal were engineers too. i sort of never wanted to be one, but in the end my experimental physics stuff in grad school was mostly engineering. in my various jobs in the "real world" which have all be much softer (ie no hardware) a good fraction of it has by being building systems, data pipelines, etc.
so i guess i ended up an engineer anyways ..
it is interesting to see the tech world full of engineers of all sorts.
I find 76 to actually be low enough. I'm on the 3rd floor and the sun sets on my window side, so it can get pretty hot in here. 76 is low enough that it's constantly pumping cold air without going freezing.
He's also 0-2 in photo ops. After going up to a shrine honoring Pope John Paul II the Archbishop of DC slammed him. A couple leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention also had negative things to say so not sure where he goes next.
I live in Arlington County and it turns out some of our police were there and helped clear the park as part of a mutual aid agreement with the U.S. Park Police. The county board called the police home after seeing that and is reconsidering the agreement. I don't attend church services but have been to many concerts at that church. Based on the type of events the church holds and the community services it provides the reaction of the bishop to the stunt was predictable.
You are given US$1 billion under the stipulation that you must keep 5 residences and have a Gulfstream 5 (6.6k mile range). Where are your 5 houses?
1, Los Angeles
2. Hong Kong
3. Bangkok, Thailand
4. Hokkaido, Japan
5. Zurich, Switzerland
1. South of France
2. A Greek island
3. Lake Tahoe-ish
4. CA Central coast somewhere, maybe Santa Barbara or SLO
5. Wellington, NZ
Are you trying to bankrupt me? I'm not sure $1B is enough to maintain all that.
That said: New York, Tokyo, Barcelona, San Diego, Saratoga Hills (just need a place close to the family).
1. Santa Cruz
2. Kauai
3. Tahoe (north shore)
4. New York
5. Tokyo
maybe our houses can be near each other in Tokyo
1 canmore alberta
2 lunenberg, nova scotia
3 aix en provence
4 telluride
5 tokyo
1. My current home (not moving until Jr. graduates from HS)
2. Bled, Slovenia
3. London
4. Somewhere in Italy. Maybe next to my buddy George Clooney
5. Somewhere in the Caribbean. Bermuda?
I was reading a few months back about hiking around Bled from inn to inn in the country side, looked pretty appealing.
Hmm, I’d probably have to try a couple of places out. Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Porto, some French village, and maybe somewhere in the PNW.
1. San Francisco
2. Tahoe
3. Paris
4. Somewhere in Provence or Tuscany
5. Caribbean somewhere, perhaps St Barths.
A friend on my other internet community shared this--it's a free, interdisciplinary lecture series on COVID-19. Most of the topics sound fascinating, and I'm going to try to watch as many as I can: https://clas.ucdenver.edu/cpe/covid-19-colorado-beyond
Today in riots
Took my 15 year old to a BLM gathering locally between conference calls. Very sedate, no hassles. The county police were doing a smart job of being visible without being oppressive or confrontational.
Well... that's enough Internet for the day for me.
https://twitter.com/ava/status/1267652412052959232
heh..I saw this on reddit earlier today.
Is twitter down?
"In most American cities, people of all races appear to be participating in the violence, vandalism and looting, particularly in Minneapolis, where a crowd burned the police department’s 3rd Precinct building last week and vandals were seen smashing windows and stealing items from stores. Multiracial coalitions also have marched peacefully. But in some cities, local officials have noted that black protesters have struggled to maintain peaceful protests in the face of young white men joining the fray, seemingly determined to commit mayhem.
In footage that spread widely online, a man identified as Bartels, who faces charges of vandalism and rioting, wore a bandanna emblazoned with the symbol of the Animal Liberation Front, a leaderless international resistance movement that pushes for animal rights. In the footage, he raised his middle fingers to black protesters who begged him to stop. At Bartels’s home in a Pittsburgh suburb, officers found spray paint and firearms, according to an arrest warrant reviewed by The Washington Post.
Attempts to reach Bartels, who turned himself in to police on Monday evening, were unsuccessful."
Sadly, this doesn't surprise me.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/protests-white-instigators/2020/06/01/b916bd98-a426-11ea-bb20-ebf0921f3bbd_story.html?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most
In the various NW cities, both the relatively peaceful events and those that turned highly violent, the crowd makeup is multi-racial, and have had a lot of white participants. But this is the northwest, and practically every demographic has a sizable white component.
Most also are coming to realize this isn't just a racial issue, much less a black issue, even though there is a significant impact on the black population (using that term because there are both African-American and other dark skinned populaces involved); it is a poor decision making problem where a wide variety of cohorts have been the victims at one point or another.
It amazes me how in this day and age, there are still so many who don't grasp the concept that different does not automatically equate with wrong.
I dropped my work Macbook Pro off at the Emeryville Apple store last Wed for a bad HDMI port. It still shows waiting to be sent in for repair. They had told me it would probably be done in a week. Now I'm wondering if it was taken when the Apple store was looted. Hopefully my laptop was in the back and the looters only took display models.
This twitter thread about the mini-race riot in Philly
https://twitter.com/jwehrens/status/1267621976379740170
I can't make head nor tails from twitter
Tiger King (epilogue): Carole Baskin will take control of Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park after default on $1m trademark infringement case
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/02/us/carole-baskin-tiger-king-zoo-trnd/index.html
I believe this might qualify as a Pyrrhic victory.
Did you read Thucydides?
Yes, actually! It was way back in school, but History of the Peloponnesian War was required reading.
#FreeJoeExotic
What's the craziest thing you see happen at a party?
i still havent seen HAG drunk at a party. that would be CRAZY
Well-planned govermental functions
During the height of the pandemic, OR DOT closed their offices and suspended deadlines for renewals, etc. The one downside is new drivers couldn't take road tests. But now that the state is in recovery, the DOT is planning to reopen, and instigated a phone reservation system, hoping to alleviate the long lines at offices synonymous with DMVs almost everywhere.
In the first hour, there were ~18,000 calls. As the day progressed, and some people were on hold for hours, the number of people on hold climbed to 25K, and then crashed altogether.
The root issue? There were 80 people answering calls.
This is the problem with trying to take organizations that thrive on predictability and throwing massive atypical spikes at them.
No 3 had his appt for his road test a couple of weeks ago. I had to make an appt in Petaluma because that was the closest office that had appointments back in Feb. It took 2 weeks of looking every morning to find an appt anywhere nearby. I called the DMV and they said as offices open they'll call appt holders as of when they closed at the end of March and go down the line. Which means he'll probably have to wait almost 2 months before he can get an appt. Now he's wishing he didn't procrastinate doing his 30 hours of drivers ed.
My older daughter is torn between not wanting to only have a permit when she goes to college and being relieved that she has an excuse to not drive.
Had a discussion with my buddy in Austin (Steiner Ranch). His daughter isn't too motivated to get her permit. However, she voiced her opinion that she doesn't want to "drive that piece of crap Toyota Highlander" her mom drives when she does. I almost did a spit take.
My wife and I are at a bit of an impasse about risk. I bought my Civic with the idea that I’d be cascading it to a kid when it was 3 years old. No takers. So I suggested that we take advantage of auto maker desperation and swap it for a hybrid. Apparently that is letting the terrorists win. I genuinely don’t care, I just want a transportation solution that works.
Apparently that is letting the terrorists win.
Wait, what?
My missus thinks that buying a car with an automatic transmission is letting a teenager dictate our “fleet” choices. The problem is that she’s the only one who actually cares if they learn how to drive a manual. I think it’s a “nice to have” but I’m not sure that it’s really going to be all that relevant for them.
Nice to have, sure but what are the sales % these days? Under 2% I'd guess.
I think it’s 2 - 3% at most
At this point, its nearly a technology moot point. Certainly not something that would drive a vehicle buying choice.
I like manuals and will probably keep buying them, but it’s an obsolete technology you choose because you like it.
I agree with this. I'm trying to figure out what to do when my TSX dies. I don't think there are very many 4 door, sporty, Japanese cars. Not doing German or American.
Maybe I go electric and use the Miata for getting my stick driving in.
No 3 was excited to learn until he got stalled the Miata a couple of times in a Safeway parking lot and we switched. Since then he hasn't wanted to go driving in a stick. Going to give him some time and see if he'll want to go out again.
I want to take a drop down PCH in the Miata with him but I told him he'll be driving some of it so he'll need to learn.
I was forced to learn. I came home from Cal freshman year for spring break - was going out to see my high school friends - look in the garage - my car is gone. Come back in to ask about it - my dad throws me the keys "learn how to drive stick"
(I had already "learned" - but it took that week for me to really get the idea of using the clutch - I must have stalled 5 times driving to Denny's that night)
*drive
What No 3's problem is going to be is that Ca has a 1 year restricted license so he can't drive any friends for 1 year. If he had gotten everything done by his 16th bday last Oct, he'd be able to drive his GF and his friends starting this oct. But now he can't even drive for at least 2+ months.
It’s kind of a moot point for her as she can’t have a car on campus as a freshman (so far as I know). The younger daughter is fired up because she wants to be able to drive herself to fencing next year
oh that's a good point. I know that Vandy doesn't allow freshman to have cars, though for No 2 it'll be a pain to buy one and drive one there. If we still lived in Louisville then I would've gotten a car for him to use. At the very least I wouldn't have to drive 2.5 hours each way to get him.
How exactly can they ban ownership of something they can legally own? More importantly, how do these students get to and from campus if they don't live very nearby?
I realized I didn’t actually answer your question: pretty much everyone who goes to Vassar lives on campus. Having a car on campus is a way to get away not get there.
Well, Vassar controls on campus parking and the city restricts it around campus. When I lived in Providence, overnight street parking was banned by the city for a variety of reasons and there was virtually no on campus parking at Brown.
As for how we’ll get said daughter to campus: we’ll drop her off. Under normal circumstances I’d expect her to come home by train between semesters but I think she’ll need to pack all her stuff out after the fall semester just in case
It would prudent to assume there could be a need to bug-out on short notice at any point.
Fortunately she’s used to living out of a trunk at camp so I think we can figure out an approach to bugging out
Sorry..I mean they can't park on campus. After that, there are limited number of parking spots available on campus for students.
And there isn't a way to park in the neighborhoods around the school. All freshman live in a freshman dorm area of campus. about 99% of the students live on campus or in the greek system. You actually have to ask to be allowed to live off campus. I suppose if you live in the Nashville or in the immediate area around campus you can get a waiver.
I think they have permit parking around campus, similar to Berkeley, so you can't leave your car in a spot long term.
I didn't have a car for the first three years I was at Cal. If I needed to go home, I either took the greyhound bus (good times), or folks came and drove me.
Same. A car is completely unnecessary for most college experiences, especially with the existence now of rideshare.
True, but was really nice to have one friend with one in the middle of the night if you decide that a road trip to LA is fun and necessary.
Kids these days...
We’re having a stubborn-off. Until the ‘rona she would get rides from friends or is. She’s also frightened of driving generally, and having a choice between the minivan (too big) and a manual (too daunting apparently) is not helping.
i guess it is going to be a near disaster for our 16 yr old to go take her written test if/when DMV opens up in NY.
they are saying it is a phase 3 thing. right now most of upstate is in phase 2, where we live in NYC suburbs is phase 1.
Engineer
I was Mech E because I wanted to do Aerospace but Cal didn't have Aerospace. I ended up applying under Mech E because Air is a fluid so I thought it would work. Also my dad is a ME. I ended up getting into programming because I've been into programming since probably 1982 and I didn't like some of the ME classes as much. I did apply to CS at some UCs. Can't remember why I did CS at some and ME at Cal. I'm not sure I would've gotten in as a CS major at Cal, though I didn't know that at the time I applied.
Davis had Aerospace no? i think for a second i thought i wanted to do that too.
on the other hand my helium balloons for my thesis expt were not very fast and aerodynamics did not matter!
Probably. I can't remember which had it. Looking back I'm glad I didn't get into it. Although somewhere like Lockheed Skunk Works would be an awesome place to work.
Several of my friends starred college as aerospace engineering majors because SC basically was a pipeline to the various southland aerospace companies. Not one of them did it after the peace dividend kicked in.
my dad was a Mech E and a good fraction of my friends at Cal were engineers too. i sort of never wanted to be one, but in the end my experimental physics stuff in grad school was mostly engineering. in my various jobs in the "real world" which have all be much softer (ie no hardware) a good fraction of it has by being building systems, data pipelines, etc.
so i guess i ended up an engineer anyways ..
it is interesting to see the tech world full of engineers of all sorts.
The tech world is where we engineers hang out.
What temperature do you set your thermostat during warm months?
Off. Wyoming summers are perfect.
I find 76 to actually be low enough. I'm on the 3rd floor and the sun sets on my window side, so it can get pretty hot in here. 76 is low enough that it's constantly pumping cold air without going freezing.
It’s all up for grabs this summer- first time since ‘09 that we’ll all be in the house.
When I get the wine storage built: 55
Time to get that room its own temp setting!
haha
ours is set at 56
Off.
[Political stuff goes here]
Donald Trump: continuing to make George W. Bush look good.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/former-president-george-w-bush-it-time-america-examine-our-n1222591
He's also 0-2 in photo ops. After going up to a shrine honoring Pope John Paul II the Archbishop of DC slammed him. A couple leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention also had negative things to say so not sure where he goes next.
And apparently even Pat Robertson criticized him. The world is upside down.
Dear Diary - Today I got the police to fire teargas and rubber bullets at peaceful protestors so I can get a disigenuous photo op
https://twitter.com/FrEdwardBeck/status/1267597279638118401
I live in Arlington County and it turns out some of our police were there and helped clear the park as part of a mutual aid agreement with the U.S. Park Police. The county board called the police home after seeing that and is reconsidering the agreement. I don't attend church services but have been to many concerts at that church. Based on the type of events the church holds and the community services it provides the reaction of the bishop to the stunt was predictable.
PRO
Jaylen Brown: "[I]f I wanted to just play basketball, I would’ve went to Kentucky. I wanted an education, so I came to Cal"
https://theathletic.com/1847280/2020/06/01/hes-been-about-this-why-jaylen-brown-driving-5-hours-to-protest-is-who-he-is/
Great article, thanks!
CAL
Go Bears!
Good for you, Will Craig
https://twitter.com/SacBee_JoeD/status/1267657682149728256
Announcer Lee Grosscup passes away:
https://www.si.com/college/cal/news/lee-grosscup-dies-at-83
Pour one out for the Cupper.
oh no!