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Taiwan_is_Protectorate
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Name: Gregory
Gender: Male
Interests: Interested in nearly everything to do with science, math, political theory (especially power politics) and military.
Expertise: I don't really have an area of expertise right now, maybe confusing people?
Occupation: Student
Industry: Student?
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  falconpilot2011
Member Since:
5/2/2005
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| I have frequently mentioned that my car is uniquely well-suited to anti-tailgating operations. Today, I will expand on the subject, with pictures, and real-life anecdotes from the field. I will, finally, make a proposal as to how tailgating can be prevented in the future, using safe, and relatively environmentally-friendly methods.
For those who don't know, I drive a lightly customized 1990 Volvo 240 DL.
Yes, to forestall all jokes, my girlfriend and my car are the same year. Go figure.
Anyway, 1990 was a good year for Volvo 240s, as anyone on or near a college campus can attest. While most cars in the parking lots seem rather younger than the students driving them, the Volvos all look suspiciously like mine.
Volvo 240s even have an old-man face. Complete with mustache.
I say my car is a "lightly-customized" Volvo 240, because it features a cleverly-designed anti-tailgating device. Thanks to the previous owners (family friends), I don't have to worry about tailgaters as long as I'm in this car. Let me show you.
Notice the solid steel protrusion in the center of the image? This device serves three roles:
- The device provides protection for the vehicle from low-speed collisions. Please recall, as the important velocity to consider in collisions is the relative closing velocities between vehicles, the 5-10 mph protection range offered by the rear-collision protection device can have significant applications in a wide range of situations.
- The shape of the device serves to increase damage to the front of other vehicles involved in a "rear ending" collision situation. Even at negligible relative velocities, the shape and position of the device combine to localize impact damage to the front of the other car.
- The device serves as a visual deterrent to would-be rear-enders. Featuring neither paint nor rubber, this design communicates to drivers who follow too closely that "collision with this device will damage your car," a fact many tailgaters seem to overlook with more conventional bumper designs
Uses:
A common belief among those who tailgate is that driving closer to the car in front of you causes said car to go faster. Unfortunately, this sometimes works.
Not with me.
I have proposed a corollary to this rule: Driving closer only increases the speed of the front car if the driver of the front car cares more about the back of his car than the driver in the rear car cares about the front of his car. See diagram:
When traveling in the direction of the arrow, Car A wishes to cause Car B to travel faster. Tailgating will only achieve Car A's goal if Car B's back bumper is more important than Car A's grillwork.
My anti-tailgating device reduces to importance of my rear bumper to far below the level of anyone's grillwork, rendering my car impervious to tailgaters.
I have personally educated a fellow KSU student on this concept. A rather foolish individual, she tried driving much too close on a two-lane road with a 35 mph speed limit.
I say foolish, because she seemed to think that her late-model Mustang would somehow intimidate my customized 1990 Volvo. After miming ramming my car a few times (drop back, rev engine, speed to right behind the other car), she settled into driving so close I could not see her headlights in my rearview mirror.
Naturally, I had to slow down.
Please understand this was not me just being a jerk. (V''')
When someone is following too closely, they have no time to react in an emergency situation. As a result, I was having to follow far enough back for the two of us. If something happened in front of me, I would need time to allow both of us to react, or I'd get slammed from behind.
Watching cautiously in the mirror, I lightly touched the brakes to begin a gradual deceleration.
I have never seen anyone's eyes get so big so fast.
Apparently she realized her headlights were worth more than my car.
I guess it's lucky nobody was tailgating her.
Of course, this can go wrong.
On Wednesday, I beat off a similar tailgating situation, but the car later caught up with me at a stoplight (the road having widened to two lanes each way). Rather than realize the logic of the situation (even if I'd been going faster, we would still have found ourselves stuck at the same intersection at the same time), they rolled down their windows and began to scream obscenities and misplaced racial epithets at me (silly kids, they've got a different word for people who look like me, ask your parents).
Now, this could have been somewhat scary.
Fortunately, they were rather on the small side. I'm guessing the driver was 11th grade, and the passengers were 10th or 11th. The driver was also female, and smiling and blinking at me...
So, I just flashed them my best "Why so serious?" smile
And drove away (the light having changed).
Okay, so now the proposal.
Please, please, please, as you value your car, do not tailgate me.
I hate it.
It awakens the homicidal clown in me.
Instead, let's all show a little courtesy on the road.
We'll all be happier if we do.
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| Good morning (or afternoon, evening, whenever you happen to read this)
Okay, let's take a time out for a second.
When you give someone a greeting, is the greeting traditionally rendered as time-appropriate for the sender or the receiver?
If I'm in the UK at 0800, and greeting a friend in the States (for whom it is afternoon) do I say "good morning" or "good afternoon"? After all, it's morning for me, but afternoon for him.
Or suppose I'm on one side of the IDL... say, in Guam, on Christmas day, and I want to greet my friend in Taiwan. "Merry Christmas" or just christmas eve?
Keeping your answers to these questions in mind, consider the problem of the blogger. I have no idea what time you'll be reading this, and no idea from what time zone (Although, I can guess it's probably Eastern Time, US and Canada). As a result, I don't really have any idea what your local time might be upon receipt of my greeting. I think I will just use entirely arbitrary time of day greetings in my blog to reflect my inability to account for your local time. Yes, I know you're thinking I could just use my local time, but that's just too boring for me.
Of course, I'm lucky compared to the hypothetical interstellar blogger. If I were writing from a location several light years away, the probable time difference would be far greater than it is in my case. Not only would I be unsure when exactly my posts would be read, but I would also know that it would not be within the next couple of years.
Or shall we consider the case of the relativistic blogger. If I were writing from a different inertial frame of reference from my readers, the time my blog is read would seem entirely different depending on the observer. Of course, if I know my speed, lorentz transformations would allow me to figure it out, but that's a lot of trouble, yes? This reminds me of a physics test with a variation of the "who shot first" problem common in westerns. The only problem being the sheriff who saw the gunfight was sitting on a train moving at 0.1c. If I recall correctly, the gunshots were said to appear simultaneous, and the distance to the various shooters was left unitless.
I guess I'm lucky most of my readers seem to be terrestrial.
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In other news:
My plans for today:
- Two funerals
- Computer games
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Oh yes, the originally planned subject of this post.
My various tracking devices record dozens of visits since I last posted. Sadly, only one of you decided to comment. Please comment, it allows me to know who's reading. While I don't mind yelling into the silence, hearing someone besides my own echo is nice.
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| Good evening, morning, afternoon, night, etc. to all who maybe sometimes read my ramblings in this medium. Thanks for sticking with me through my long blogging absence. I have decided to resume writing, and hopefully this time my resolution would stick....
ANNOUNCING!
NEW ADHESIVE RESOLUTIONS!
New 3M technology allows patented Duck (tm) brand tape adhesive to attach to your resolutions, making them 100% more likely stick!
Gone are the days of nonstick resolutions, yo-yo dieting, and nicotine patches.
Make your resolutions, and make them stick!
Available everywhere in December 2009!
Look for them on the Resolution Aisle
Ehem, sorry. The idea of "resolutions sticking" just brought that to mind. Oh, by the way, you should excuse the stream-of-consciousness feel, or just stop reading. I'm neutral on that to be honest. I'm writing to fulfill a resolution, not for readers. My apologies, but this is a blog, not network tv. I do give thought to my audience, but only in passing :P
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Many of my readers (yes, I realize the irony of this with the preceding statement) would probably like to know what I'm doing this summer. Well, your blogger is currently unemployed, and not taking classes. My unemployment is involuntary, and relates more to the state of the job market than to anything else (although my general lack of qualifications probably has some impact--most of the interesting jobs are for college grads). As a result, aside from filling out job applications and doing yard work, my summer so far has consisted mostly of the following:
- Hanging out with my girlfriend. Yes, I know, most of my long-term readers will be rather surprised to learn that I have a girlfriend, but it's the truth. Despite declaring Valentine's day "for the birds" and being a general nerd and misanthrope, I am dating a very amazing girl. Chalk one up to being incredibly attractive and not remotely humble.
- Working random Calculus and ODE problems. I know, not the general ideal of summer fun, but since I'm currently a math major, I figure I should keep myself sharp this summer. Besides, differential equations really are just that fun, especially the systems that require eigenvalues (a word nearly as scarily awesome as the concept) to solve.
- Listening to the song I've had stuck in my head for weeks. I'm not sure this counts as an activity, but "Dashboard" by Modest Mouse has been stuck in my head for a while. Catchy, but weird. "...even needs have needs, tiny giants made of tinier giants..."
- Reading the Adventures of Dr. McNinja. Ninja by birth, doctor by choice, Dr. McNinja is pretty much the picture of comic book action-comedy awesomeness. If you start reading, I recommend you go to the archives and start with the first real story. The actual first story is lower-quality and a bit confusing.
- Blasting the heads off of zombies. From the people who brought you Half Life, Half Life 2, and Portal, Left 4 Dead is probably the best zombie shooter of all time. An intense tribute to zombie movies, the four-player cooperative game puts you in the shoes of immune survivors 2 weeks after "the Infection" has turned most of the world into zombies. Hole up in farmhouse or try to reach the military safe zone, but be ready to fight hundreds and hundreds of the should-be-dead.
- Watching NCIS reruns. I don't think this requires explanation.
- Capturing Dustbowl. From the same folks as Half Life 2 (the best shooter ever) Team Fortress 2 is a multiplayer team versus game. Different character classes have different weapons, equipment, and attitude...
- Reading C. S. Forrester. Horatio Hornblower is a socially awkward genius (remind you of anyone?) in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars. Great read.
Anyway, I'm sure there's more, but that list is a good start.
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I've decided I rather like majoring in math. Mathematicians tell the Truth. Not the "best guess" a doctor might give you, or the imaginative answer of a sociologist. Not the "model best fitting the data" of a physical scientist or the "sincere belief" of a pastor. Not the carefully-formatted lies of lawyers or "enhanced truth" of politicians. No, math is truth and certainty. Abstract maybe, but still a piece of absolute reality. That appeals to me.
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I've been thinking a lot about the "social issues" that frequently come up in elections. Since reader involvement always increases readership, I'm going to let you decide what my next "serious" post should be about. Abortion or same-sex marriage?
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I think I've blogged enough for one evening. Expect more soon!
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| EDITOR'S NOTE:
Ah, the beginning of the year. Time for Bowl games, award shows, and, a mixed-blessing [or, perhaps a mixed curse], "best of" list articles. Through all media we get to hear the names of the best and worst movies and everything else in the opinion of a nameless group of authors or editors.
We here at [my blog] have decided to go against the grain [ouch. cliche], and not follow the herd [ouch, another cliche] in producing such lists.
That's right....
We're going to tell you my name before giving you the list.
That way, you'll know who is telling you what to believe, and we will not become one of the anonymous "them".
My name is Greg[or][y] (for explanation of this chosen spelling, see link: )
BEST AND WORST OF 2008
I'm going to sound like a corporate lawyer here and start this post with a disclaimer. I have a horrible memory for time. Events I may remember as happening in 2008 may have happened in late 2007. I do not care, so neither should you. I also freely warn you that many, perhaps even most, of the things listed here ARE NOT new for 2008. At least one item on the list is older than my parents. I am going for a personal angle here, so the members of this list were new to me in 2008.
This is a blog, if personal references bother you, I invite you to stop reading.
Best New Movie:
2008 was definitely a year of new movies, at least for me. In a series of rather non-typical moves, Hollywood released several movies that interested me. As a result, I have restricted this category to movies that were actually new in 2008.
In my mind, two movies contend for this award. As unlike as any two movies can be, Wall-e and The Dark Knight demonstrated the best of 2008 cinema (at least as far as I saw). One incredibly cute, the other brilliantly dark, both excellent movies.
Worst New Movie:
As a staunch capitalist, I try not to watch movies which I expect to qualify for "worst movie" nomination. However, I have two movies in this category, one I saw in full, and other I saw a five minute clip that decided me.
Worst New Movie that I Saw:
The new Bond movie easily wins this category. While half-second shots, and strange framing can (and sometimes does) work, this movie looks disjointed and awkward. All this movie seemed to show was that Bond is nothing special. In this case, he did not even get cool gadgets--and it becomes fairly apparent Bourne is better.
Worst New Movie of which I watched a clip:
Wanted. Can a stupider premise exist? Perhaps an attempt to imitate Chinese film, this movie has all the flaws: awkward dialogue, impossible stunts, and plot holes; with none of the beauty. Movies like The Dark Knight show that comics (and probably graphic novels) can make good cinema, Wanted demonstrates that this is not always true. Let's hope Watchmen comes out better.
Best Non-New Movie:
Blade Runner. Rent it, watch it. Includes a particularly tough variant of the famous Turing test.
Honorable mention:
The Godfather Part 1
Serenity
Dirty Harry
Worst Non-New Movie:
Starship Troopers. I'm not sure who wrote, directed, or produced this piece of trash masquerading as a movie based on a Heinlein novel, but I wish they were never born. This is the movie that gave birth to the phrase "don't judge a book by its movie". Don't. The book is good, the movie stinks. Just remember that.
Dishonorable mention:
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (no, I didn't manage to watch all of it... but I only left so my girlfriend could.. seriously... okay... maybe not... maybe I ran from the room like a coward and left her there... but I did go back for her.. honest...)
Snow Dogs
Best Novels:
I do not think I read anything that was actually written last year, so the same applies as with non-new movies.
The Dark Tower (series) - Stephen King. An excellent fantasy series. Stephen King's attempt to write the longest popular novel in history. Long it is (7 books, all long), sadly it's not popular. But such is ka.
Honorable mention:
The Stand - Stephen King
Pebble in the Sky - Isaac Asimov
Ubik - Philip K. Dick (confusing as hell... if hell were confusing...)
Time Out of Joint - Philip K. Dick
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller (a side note, if my name were Heller, you can be certain I'd name my child "Kelen")
Worst Novel:
Obviously, I do not read novels I expect to be bad, except when I have to for school.
House of Leaves - Mark Danielewski. A book about a house that is larger on the inside than the outside-- maybe a work of genius, maybe just a bad acid trip, this book will leave you wondering, questioning... mostly the author's sanity. I do not mind insane (in fact I listed Catch-22 as one of the best novels), but this insanity lacks direction. Catch-22 has biting irony and sarcasm, completely absent in House of Leaves. This book may still be worth reading, however, because the format really is something, and the house is just creepy. Just the story stinks, and it really goes downhill after the main character stops having bizarre, violent--and very unsexy--sexual encounters.
Dishonorable mention:
The Redhunter - William F. Buckley Jr.(His sister? Seriously?)
Eldest - some athiest (Luke, I am your brother - and by the way, there is no god.)
I'm sure I'll have more entries for this list in the future, but I'm in a rush-to-publish.
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| America has many cults. We worship money, we worship fame. We worship athletes and entertainers. We worship ourselves, our children, and even our pets. All of these ills have been well-identified and pontificated upon by numerous authority figures across the nation and across time.
Many people seem to overlook, however, the fact we worship our politicians.
Of course, every one of us has nothing but contempt for "politicians". We compare them to slime or grime, or suggest that we might call them rats except we fear to offend the rodent community. But something strange happens after an election: these grimy, slimy, rodent politicians become something else entirely. They become "Presidents" and "Senators" and "Congress[wo]men," people whom we shower with respect and attention regardless of what we felt about them a few months ago.
We worship these human gods whom we ourselves have created.
Let me show you an example of this, the following was posted on a Facebook group discussion:
"I have been spurred on to write something positive about our election.
"I have one thing to say...
"A
GREAT MAN WHO I KNOW ONCE TOLD ME THAT NO MATTER WHO IS IN THAT OFFICE OF PRESIDENT YOU ARE TO RESPECT THEM. WETHER YOU VOTED FOR THAT
MAN/WOMAN OR NOT. WE AS UNITED STATES PEOPLE ARE TO RESPECT THE THE
OFFICE OF PRESIDENT AND WHO EVER THAT MAY BE BECAUSE THEY ARE OUR
LEADER. WE ARE TO BACK THEM AND PULL TOGETHER NO MATTER WHAT. IF WE
DON'T PULL TOGETHER BEHIND OUR LEADER THEN OTHERS WILL COME IN AND PULL
US APPART...THAT IS A FACT AND WILL SURLEY HAPPEN IF WE DON'T TAKE THE
ROLE OF PRESIDENT WITH RESPECT. :)
"This is what I will do 100%! "
My response (although I realize I was probably a tiny bit harsh) sums up my position
"Nonsense.
"Respect is earned, never given.
"Regardless of whether a
man or woman has the title "President of the United States," he/she
must earn respect like anyone else: by demonstrating personal character
and devotion to duty.
"From what I have seen in this campaign, Barack Obama does not deserve this respect.
"You
seem to misunderstand the role of the President of the United States of
America. The President is not the leader of we "United States people,"
rather he/she is a professional we have hired for a specific, and very
important, job. Just as we would hire a electrician or mechanic, we
hire a president based on his/her ability to do the job well. Just as
we would respect a good, honest, hardworking plumber, so we may respect
an honest, skilled, integrity-filled president.
"But just as the title of "Plumber" does not compel us to give our respect to some person, neither does the title of President.
"When
the next President of the United States places his hand on a book and
takes an oath, he will not be transformed into something he was not
already. Barack Obama has shown himself to be a slimy, dishonest
politician--taking an oath and receiving an office will not suddenly
render him worthy of respect.
"We are not required to respect the
president, but let me remind you we are expected as citizens to obey laws. Good citizens obey the duly-passed laws of the nation and
obey the legal orders of duly-elected or appointed officials. This is
respect, not for the PotUS, but rather for the US Constitution and the
law and order of our republic."
Simply put, the president is just a human being, just like anyone else. Just like most everyone else, the president has a job, and if he does this job well, we respect him.
But "President Jones" saying something does not make that something true. If "Senator" Smith breaks the law, we should be no more shocked, and no more forgiving, than we would for anyone else.
If "Congresswoman" Jacobs behaves like an idiot, impeach her. You gave her this title, you can take it away.
Idols made in voting booths are not gods--don't expect miracles, and don't fear to remove them.
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