Author: LegoDoug

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Who Is Geekier? Mark Sohmer or Doug Wilcox

This started when Matt Camillieri described my friend Mark Sohmer as a “wicked smaaart super geek.” Frankly, I do not think Sohmer is quite deserving of that title. The debate rages on, and I am taking this public.

I started by pointing out a little secret to Matt:

Did you ever notice that just before Mark comes up with a brilliant answer to a Geekworthy problem he sneaks off somewhere to use his cell phone? Do you believe this is merely coincidental?

See this post

–Doug

Mark responded with some foolishness about owning a BlackBerry, which he first capialitzed wrong, and then insisted was two words (which it isn’t).

I listed a few points in my favor:

I think, despite what Mark will try to claim, that the evidence speaks for
itself:

  1. I operate a Star Wars Web site that has received over 1/2-million hits.
  2. I have the highest score on the Geek Test of anyone I have ever met.
  3. I know the name of the Restaurant at the End of the Universe
    (Milliways), and the name of the leader of the “Disaster Area” band (Hotblack Desiato).
  4. My cube is furnished with a Lego Star Destroyer (as well as an X-Wing and Y-Wing). See http://stardestroyer.wilcoxfamily.net/.
  5. I own two binary timekeeping devices: A BCD (binary coded decimal) LED clock and a straight-binary digital watch.
  6. I hated Titanic (except for the few minutes where the ship sinks—that part was cool).
  7. I have built my own light saber.
  8. When house-shopping, a primary concern was having a good space to put my 1100+ volume library, about 1/3 of which is science fiction.
  9. When I heard on the news that Tom Clancy had bought the Vikings, I thought the reference was to the 1970s Martian spacecraft.
  10. I can only watch The Net as part of giving it the MST3K treatment.

I could go on …

—Doug Wilcox

Let the flames begin …

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NASA Coolness

There are few things in life cooler than exploring other parts of our Solar System. Along those lines, here are a couple of great links recommended by Brian Cortez:

A Dust Devil on Mars

Apollo 13, We Have a Solution—An accurate and fascinating account of the engineering and preparation that allowed Apollo 13’s crew to return safely to earth. If you have seen the film, you definitely want to read the real story.

Doug “JavaDoug” Ross contributing this link to the MSNBC Tech/Science Slide Show Archive, which contains more wonder.

Artist Lynette Cook is achieving fame via her amazing work on extrasolar planets. Be sure to look at her other work as well.

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Ten? Celebrating a Decade Since the Birth of Isaac

Today, we celebrated Isaac’s birthday with a group of his friends from church and school. We had such a wonderful time with everyone.

Trish D. ever so nicely volunteered to help me with things and brought some supplies with her and her children, Chaz and Pheobe. They arrived early and got busy: Trish with the preparations and the kids helped by playing with our children. After making scores of calls, John (nearly 17 now) managed to arrange to be out of the house for the duration of the party. (I certainly don’t blame him.)

They had a great time, with many loud noises and weird sounds being made. Next to arrive was Meghan C. and her Mom, Laurie, followed by Isaac’s friends Cassie, then Brian, and lastly, Michaela.

The party theme was “Creepy Crawlies”—mostly about bugs. We had giant bugs hanging up as decorations. We put together a “dirt cake” covered and embedded with crushed chocolate graham crackers, chocolate sandwich cookies, gummy worms and spiders. It was awesome and the kids, both the girls and the boys liked it a lot, especially Isaac and David, who helped put the gummy worms on and burrowing through the cake. We also took my corn snake and Isaac’s tarantula out of the cage. The snake was a big hit, and, surprisingly, nearly everyone was willing to pet the tarantula, although not hold it.

We had a few games to play with the kids, including a “bug quiz” (Isaac and Meghan both got perfect scores, although there were rumors of collusion.), a “bug hunt,” and one last one, named “bug toss.”

By the time of the bug toss, pizza had arrived, presents had been opened, and cake eaten, and the kids were in a state of sugar-frenzied, toy overloaded pandemonium. I got everything set up, and announced, “Okay, it’s time for us to play the bug toss game.” What I didn’t notice was that Doug had hooked up a self-contained Star Wars video game Isaac received from Cassie, which was, especially to the party-goers, a waaaaaaaaaay cooler game than the bug toss. No problem;, it give us adults more time to sit and chat, and I really enjoyed that. So thanks to the Dunns, Chalmers, Caslins, Vallerands, and the York family for making Isaac’s celebration so very special.

Of course, no day would be complete without a little friendly competition between the boys and the girls. Isaac, who is very competitive, had a hard time dealing with the boys’ team losing the bug hunt. Ah, the joys of a ten year old … It’s hard to believe he’s already ten.

Michaela, thanks so much for bringing the whoopee cushion. It was definitely fun watching a group of 8–10 year olds enjoying that sound, time and time (and time, and time, and time, and time) again. LOL.

Naomi and David had no trouble fitting in. Naomi reveled in having so many playmates, especially during the light saber and gun battles.

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The Great Gasoline Boycott

You may have received an e-mail encouraging you to boycott, for the next year, two major gasoline vendors (click for a sample), to help achieve lower gasoline prices.

It is an interesting idea—certainly better than the “don’t buy gas for one day” e-mails that have gone out—but it can't work, from an economics perspective.

There are two major factors affecting gasoline prices. The first is the price of crude oil. The second is demand on gasoline itself.

Currently, crude oil production worldwide is at or near a maximum, reserves are shrinking, and much of the oil obtained is less desirable (and more expensive) for use in gasoline production. In addition to decreasing supply, the rapid growth of industry and the middle class in China is rapidly increasing demand on crude oil worldwide. Crude oil prices are going to continue to increase until production increases significantly or demand decreases.

Then there is supply-and-demand for gasoline itself. Worldwide, refineries, which convert crude oil into gasoline and other petroleum products are typically operating 24/7. This means that gasoline production is at its maximum. Due to environmental and security issues, few, if any, communities are willing to allow refineries to be built in their areas, and refinery construction can't happen overnight in any case.

Do we really think that gasoline companies are inflating prices by 100%? They are making a profit, to be sure, but certainly not at that margin. (Ironically, considering the e-mail I received, our local Hess station—one company targeted by the boycott—is typically charges 10¢ per gallon less than its competition.)

If we are to reduce the price of gasoline, we must decrease the demand. This can be done via carpooling, using public transportation, and buying hybrid or elecric vehicles. (Another topic is why the hydrogen fuel-cell powered car is a bad idea, but I'll save that for another time.)

It is estimated that gasoline will have to stay consistently over $3.00/gallon before people will stop buying the worst offending SUVs (some of which get as few as 7–8 MPG) and get something more fuel-efficient. (Many SUVs do much better, and the average MPG for an SUV appears to be over 20 MPG. My thanks to Robert Hardman for correcting my original misstatement.) I'm ashamed that our minivan only gets 20 MPG around the city, but our choices were limited by the need for space for our 4 children and personal economics. If we did not have a daily need for a larger vehicle, we would not have bought one.

What we ought to be doing is forcing the government to make its fleet vehicle purchases electric-gasoline hybrids or straight electric, demanding increases in public transportation allocation, subsidizing hybrid vehicle purchases (and other energy-saving projects) through tax breaks, and building more nuclear plants—which the US has a near-perfect safety record in operating, and which do not contribute to global warming or other air pollution—to supplement or replace natural gas-, coal- and oil-fired plants.

Anyway, that's my typical more-than-2¢.

(Thanks to Maryjane Case for the topic suggestion.)

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Marburg—Similar to Ebola

Since Monday, I have been tracking the news about an outbreak of the Marburg hemorrhagic fever, a really nasty virus, in Angola.

Try this article for some scary reading, especially the following (emphasis mine):

“The latest figures available show the disease had killed 117 out of 124 people known to be infected by Tuesday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta says the usual death rate is 23 percent to 25 percent, but few infected patients are reported to have recovered this outbreak. There is no known cure.”

Recommended Reading: The Demon in the Freezer, by Richard Preston, and The Hot Zone, also by Preston.

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And That’s … Bad?

The following is an excerpt from a Reuters Article (which probably won’t be available a month from now). I say, anything that gets kids to stop watching television is probably a good idea.

Commercial Leaves Kids Too Scared to Watch TV

LONDON (Reuters) – A Marmite commercial that parodied 1950's science fiction film “The Blob” has been banned from all children's' programs in Britain after leaving kids too scared to watch television, the advertising watchdog said.

…

Six people complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that their toddlers had been terrified by the adverts, with four refusing to watch television after seeing them and two suffering nightmares.

I am amazed at how early children can identify with what is on television. One evening Naomi, at age 16 months, picked up her paper “Zoo Pals” plate, held it vertically in front of her face, and hummed a little song as she rotated it back and forth slightly. Nichelle told me that Naomi was mimicking the commercial.

Naomi is also enthralled with “Blue’s Clues,” and David, somewhat reluctantly, had to share his stuffed Blue dog with Naomi until Nichelle was fortunate enough to find one costing only a few dollars for Naomi. We have some old episodes on tape, and Naomi loves the program. Singing the theme song (which I do very poorly) is enough to get her dancing. I find this impact of television both fascinating and a bit frightening. (By the way, if you have heard a rumor that Steve Burns, the original (and best) host of “Blue’s Clues,” is dead, then you have been misled.)

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Warning: I Am Posting Something Nice About the IRS

We, like many Americans, are waiting for our tax refund from the Treasury Department. I was poking about the IRS Web site, and discovered an online tool that will tell you when the IRS received your return, and when your refund check will be mailed. Give it a try!

Of course, I lean Libertarian (although I understand the needs of a Federalist system), so I want much more of my tax money back, but that’s a different topic.